The Avatar and the Skybenders
by Scratchy57
Summary: Aang learns to bend thunder and Toph falls in love! It seems as though life has finally taken a turn for the better after a century long war. There's only one problem now. Ozai and Azula are back for revenge and nothing will stop them this time.
1. Chapter 1

_**Well alrighty then. I'm gonna skip any long, droning intros and get right into the story. So, as they say in the movies, SHADDUP AND READ!**_

The wind blew gently, swaying the grass with each breeze. A single figure sat cross-legged, eyes shut in deep meditation, his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath.  
>"Ahem."<br>Aang's eyebrow twitched, but he calmed himself and focused his attention on his breathing. He exhaled slowly, returning back to his meditative state.  
>"Ahem."<br>It was firmer this time, but Aang was adamant on staying in this spot for as long as possible.  
>"<strong>AHEM."<strong>  
>The sudden change in tone succeeded in yanking Aang out of his peaceful state, which made him fall back onto the ground in surprise. He rose to his feet and turned to face the fiend who had dared to pull him out of such a peaceful state of mind and instead came face to face with one of the many female servants of the Fire Lord's home.<br>"Pardon me, Avatar Aang," she said politely, completely ignoring the scowl Aang was giving her, "but a message has arrived for you from the Fire Lord himself."  
>In her outstretched hand, she held a letter marked with the seal of the Fire Nation. Aang held it up and read it out aloud.<br>"Salutations, Avatar Aang. I am Professor Wen Zheng of the Fire Nation Academy of Culture. For the past year, I have been wondering the uncharted Northern Mountains and have come upon a discovery of which you may find particularly interesting. What I have discovered here can, unfortunately, only be explained in person. I hope you receive this message soon and I wish you a safe journey."  
>Aang slowly lowered the letter, his face amazed.<br>"What does it mean?" The servant asked, suddenly interested in the Avatar's black expression. Instead of answering her, Aang took off towards the royal stables, a strong gust of wind following his wake. As he ran, he issued one last command to the bewildered servant.  
>"Get my saddle!"<p>

"And coats, just in case we get cold." Katara said, handing Aang a thick fur coat. Behind her stood Toph and Sokka, the latter with a worried look on his face.  
>"I just wish you'd be more cautious about this Aang." He said, shifting around nervously. "I mean the last time we had anything to do with a Professor, we ended up being attacked by a giant owl and almost getting buried alive. Not to mention Appa got kidnapped by a bunch of sandbenders." He said motioning to the sky bison who simply groaned in return. But Aang was unperturbed by Sokka's claims. In fact, he was even more motivated by the prospect of another adventure. Truth be told, the young Airbender had become extremely bored during the year of peace that followed the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. There had been no "great revolt" as many had thought. Ozai had no followers left in the world and it was something all 4 nations were grateful for. The prospect of peace and tranquillity seemed heavenly to Aang and the rest of his friends after long months of evading the Fire Nation and training for the inevitable showdown, but now that they had been simply waiting around for the next diplomatic meeting or the next dinner with nobles, boredom had plenty of time to creep up on them.<br>"Don't be such a prude, Snoozles," Toph said, climbing aboard the saddle that rested on Appa's back, it texture and feel bringing a wave of nostalgia upon her, "If this Professor guy says he found something cool, I say let's go see! Besides, it's SO boring just waiting around to talk to some old farts and having tea with my parents isn't exactly top priority right now." Katara chuckled at this, knowing full well how prim and proper Toph's parents could be. Then she noticed something.  
>"Hey, Toph, aren't you supposed to be at your parent's house right now?" Toph grinned at her.<br>"I should shouldn't I?" She replied.  
>With all three of his friends settled in the saddle and their supplies loaded, Aang only had one thing left to do.<br>"You ready for this, Momo?" He asked the lemur. Momo chirped in response and promptly fell asleep in Sokka's lap. Aang smiled at the sight and turned forward to grab the reigns as the North wind began to call to him.  
>"Alright, Appa, yip yip!"<p>

**Meanwhile…**

The Boiling Rock. Named so as it was little more than an ugly slab of stone surrounded by boiling hot water. Also, it housed the most dangerous criminals of the Fire Nation.  
>After the war ended, many of the wrongly convicted political prisoners were released after many years of wrongful imprisonment. Many historians would say that this was done as compensation for their wrongful convictions. However, this was done out of safety for the prison population. Safety from the Boiling Rock's newest inmates.<br>Ozai's walk was dignified as he was led down the prison hallways by his once loyal guards who followed him cautiously, always a few steps behind. Even without his bending, it was nice to know that he still instilled some fear into the minds of those under him. Ozai glanced to his left and his eyes fell upon a cell. _That cell._ He thought as he continued on. To any passerby, it was little more than a rusted steel door with a particularly heavy lock. However, the screams and crazed muttering that came from within were all too familiar for the former Fire Lord.  
>This was Azula's cell.<br>Ozai simply strode past, ignoring the anguished cries from within her cell. Ignoring the fact that she called for him much more frequently now.  
>As they neared his cell, Ozai held up a single hand. The guards understood this sign and turned to leave, locking the door behind them, leaving the former Fire Lord to himself. Ozai entered the cell and sat down.<br>"You might as well show yourself," he said to the bars, "You're about as quiet as a lionturtle in heat."  
>From behind him, a single figure rose from the darkness. Ozai turned to face his guest, sneering.<br>"If you're here to kill me, do hurry up. I'm only in here for the rest of my life." The figure did not react to Ozai's statement. It simply moved into the dim light of the cell, giving Ozai a better look at his mysterious guest. The figure was a tall man, clad in a long cloak. He threw said garment around his shoulders revealing worn but thick armor. His arms were heavily scarred; with burns similar to those he had given Zuko all those long years ago. The man steeped closer to Ozai, taking a seat in the cot directly in front of the former Fire Lord. The two sat in silence for a few long minutes in which Ozai sized up his guest. The man was obviously a bender as he carried not weapons. The exact nature of his bending, however, was unknown to Ozai. The man walked with the dignified grace of a master Firebender but held himself with the humble pride of an Air nomad. He possessed no insignia on his armor and his face was too obscured by the cloak's hood.  
>"Fire Lord Ozai," he suddenly said, throwing back the hood "It is an honor to finally meet you." Ozai stared at the man's face, his expression unchanging. The man face was just as scared as his arms, with a long diagonal slash running straight from his left eye down to the bottom of his chin. His hair was cut military style, efficient and shot, probably to avoid it being grabbed by an opponent. His expression was neutral which made it hard for Ozai to judge whether the man's words were true or not.<br>"My name is Liuwang." The man said, finally introducing himself. Ozai raid an eyebrow at this.  
>"Oh? Well, at least it's polite of my would-be assassin to introduce himself before killing me." He sneered. Liuwang simply shook his head at this, his face still unreadable.<br>"I have not come to do you any harm, Fire Lord. However, I do apologize for sneaking up on you. I have, in fact, come with a proposition for you."  
>"And what might that be?" Ozai asked, still sneering, "Offer me freedom then turn me in to some bounty hunter for some quick gold?" Liuwang leaned in close to Ozai before stating his next words.<br>"It's much simpler than that." He said, his expression hardening. Ozai saw a fire in his eyes and knew by this point that he was dead serious.  
>"You help me kill the king of the Skybenders; I give you your throne back."<br>The words hit Ozai like a sledgehammer, though he did not show it. On the surface, he acted calm and collected towards Liuwang's words but in his mind, he knew full well that this was the chance he'd been waiting for. After staring at Liuwang for 3 long minutes, he finally spoke.  
>"Alright," he said smiling, offering his hand, "It's a deal." Liuwang nodded and turned to the wall of the cell.<br>"Then we don't have a moment to lose." He dropped into a low crouch, his left hand drawn back in a fist. After a few seconds, his arm began to glow and hum softly. With each passing second, the glow grew brighter and the humming louder until Ozai was sure the man's hand would burst. Then, as quick as it had started, it stopped. Liuwang rose to his feet and dusted himself off, still facing the wall. Just as Ozai was about to open his mouth to berate the man, Liuwang threw a punch at the wall and the roar of thunder was heard as the brick disintegrated, leaving behind a clean hole. He turned to Ozai.  
>"After you." Ozai scowled at the man's arrogance but, once again, was masking his true feelings. Inside, he was terrified as the sudden realization of the bender's nature hit him.<br>_The man was a Skybender.  
><em>As he calmly stepped towards the hole, Ozai hesitated for a moment, casting a glance at the cell bars behind him. He was suddenly aware that he was probably leaving Azula out of his escape. Then, he suddenly remembered that he was unable to bend anymore and that he'd be practically useless compared to a Skybender. As if reading his thoughts, Liuwang placed a hand on the Fire Lord's shoulder.  
>"Worry not, my men have secured your daughter. We will meet back at the camp, but for now we must make our escape." As if on cue, the unmistakable roar of thunder was heard in the direction of Azula's cell, followed by her crazed screaming which was promptly silenced by a loud whack. Ozai nodded and walked out of his cell, feeling dirt crunch under his feet for the first time in a year. He looked across the vast boiling lake which gave the prison it's trademark name and spun back to face Liuwang, suddenly aware that they had no escape route.<br>"And how exactly do you plan to escape?" He demanded. Liuwang simply smirked calmly.  
>"Same way I got in." He said, offering his hand. Ozai grabbed it and he immediately turned to face the lake. Liuwang's eyes shut in deep concentration as he began to mutter some ancient incantation. As he spoke, the ground beneath them began to hum in the same way his fist did. Ozai began to feel nervous, wondering if this actually was an elaborate assassination attempt and if the man would simply strike them with thunder. Just as his grip on Liuwang's hand began to loosen, a great roar of thunder sounded in the sky and streak of light crashed down upon them. The ground on which they had been on exploded in a shower of dirt and the two men, Skybender and Fire Lord, vanished into the night.<p>

_**AN: Liuwang means exiled in Chinese (according to Google translator) and Wen Zheng means wise (same source).  
>Alright, I just want to say now that I'm not very consistent with my updates. Check back every other day or just when you feel like it. That way, we can have fun as each new day may hold an update! YAY! But really, I'll try to stay on track as much as possible. I think I owe it to my past readers, where ever they may be, to update my newest entry as much as I can after that fiasco with my Left4Dead story (which I have yet to even begin writing a new chapter). Alright, that's all for now! Ciao!<br>- Scratchy**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Moving right along…  
><strong>_Aang squinted and stared at the horizon. This was the third consecutive hour he had spent doing this and he intended to go on.  
>"Careful, Twinkle Toes," Toph chimed in from the back of the saddle, "Stare any longer and you might fall off." Aang either didn't hear her or was hiding his reaction quite well as he kept staring straight ahead. Toph sighed, giving up on trying distracting the wayward Avatar and instead turned her attention to Sokka who was currently fighting off a flock of birds that had spontaneously appeared out of nowhere. <em>How the…?<em> Toph began to think as she moved over to Sokka's side, casually observing the sounds of the unfolding battle.  
>"Gah! Back! Back! Feathery spawn of EVIL!" Sokka cried, brandishing his war club at his attackers to no avail. Laughing silently to herself, Toph began to shift her attention to Katara when Aang's voice destroyed her concentration.<br>"We're here!" He yelled, a massive smile plastered on his face, and yanked on Appa's reigns, bringing them to a halt. _Finally._ Toph thought to herself, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face.  
>If only Toph could see, she would have been in awe of the sight before the 4 young warriors. They stood before a massive gate whose height could rival that of Ba Sing Se's great stone gate. Beyond that, they could barely make out high, golden spires that made up the skyline of this wondrous city. A single man awaited the 4 teens as they disembarked their sky bison, still in awe.<br>"Welcome, young heroes!" He said, approaching them, "Welcome to Lei jin shi."  
>There was a load roar as the gate began to open and the city was revealed in all its glory to the 4 warriors. As Toph's feet touched the ground, the city was painted in her mind's eye and she found herself staggering backwards in amazement. The man walked up to Aang and shook his hand rigorously.<br>"Avatar Aang! It is an honor to finally meet you." He smiled. Aang was just as enthusiastic as the man and returned his handshake with just as much gusto.  
>"Professor Zheng I presume." Zheng smiled and turned to lead the way as the small group stepped through the gates into a wide, empty street. The houses along the sides were magnificent, being built out of gold and precious diamonds, with majestic spires stretching towards the sky.<br>"Come, come. There is so much to see and I want to introduce you to the royal family."  
>This statement stopped Aang dead.<br>"R-royals?" He stammered. Zheng grinned as the boy absorbed the news.  
>"Why of course Avatar. A kingdom must have a king should it not?"<br>"K-K-Kingdom?" Aang stammered again, barely able to say anything else.  
>"Yes. Welcome to Lei jin shi, the Kingdom of Thunder!"<br>As these words left Zheng's lips, windows and doors were thrown open all around and hundreds of people appeared and began to cheer Aang's name. As he reveled in the praise, Katara noticed a peculiar detail about the people cheering for Aang. They all seemed to be tattooed with a strange pattern but she was too far below them to get a proper view. As the group continued down the street , a young boy rushed out of his mother's arms and latched onto Aang's waist.  
>"Thank you for saving the world, Avatar!" He said, embracing the young Airbender. Aang smiled and turned to face the boy.<br>"Aw, it's no prob…'' He began but was stopped in his tracks when he saw the boy's face.  
>On his forehead was the bright blue arrow of the Air Nomads.<br>Mouth agape, Aang turned and focused on the rest of the town's people, a look of shock on his face as he saw that they were all tattooed in the same way as the boy. Suddenly, his mouth closed and tears of joy sprung to his eyes as he formed a small smile. Gently releasing the boy, he turned to Katara, who noticed his tear-streaked face and instantly became concerned.  
>"Aang, are you.." She began but was cut off as he embraced her .<br>"I'm home, Katara," he said, releasing his embrace and placing his hands on her shoulders, allowing her to see his tears of joy.  
>"I'm home."<p>

_**Meanwhile…**_

"So this "thunder kingdom", you plan on destroying it?" Ozai asked Liuwang as they made their way towards his camp.  
>"Goodness, no." Liuwang replied, casually blasting away a small portion of the forest they were in with a quick swipe of light.<br>"I simply plan on killing the current king and taking over. Much like what I expect you to do." This caused Ozai to raise his eyebrows.  
>"You mean Zuko?"<br>"Of course." Liuwang replied, again blasting another clump of tress into oblivion.  
>"It's a pretty well known fact that the former Fire Lord, and briefly Phoenix King, was struck down by the Avatar and had his exiled son take his place. I just thought that someone who goes through something like that would want some payback."<br>"You thought correctly." Ozai growled as the memories of his humiliation resurfaced.  
>"Exactly. So what I propose to you is: help me kill my brother and I'll help you retake your throne. Come to think about it." Liuwang said, suddenly stopping and staring ahead, "We can take back you city now. We're closer any way." Ozai staggered back a few steps, taken aback by Liuwang's sudden change of mind.<br>"Seriously?"  
>"Of course." Liuwang replied, as if Ozai's statement was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "I'd consider us to be in a similar situation, so why not accomplish similar goals?"<br>"And what makes you think I won't just betray you once we retake my throne." Ozai asked, his tone condescending. At this, Liuwang gently placed his hand on Ozai's shoulder. His blood ran cold as he heard the familiar hum of thunder charging up within Liuwang.  
>"I KNOW you'll help me once we're done because if you don't, I'll obliterate where you stand and then tear down the Fire Nation once I'm done." He said, his tone completely flat.<br>"Understand?"  
>Ozai gulped, the fear apparent on his face. In the past, he could simply strike down the other bender.<br>This was not the past where Ozai was the all powerful ruler of the Fire Nation. This was the present and Ozai was nothing more than a man in over his head.  
>"Absolutely." He said resentfully. Liuwang nodded, satisfied with his answer and moved along, blasting a final clump of tress to reveal a small ring of tents.<br>"You may join me in the main tent when you're ready, Fire Lord."He said, not facing Ozai as he made his way to the uppermost tent in the ring. As soon as he was out of sight, Ozai turned and slammed his fist into the nearest tree with all the force he could muster.  
>"Break!" He growled as he landed more blows, regardless of the injury to his hands. In his mind's eye, the faces of Zuko, Aang and finally Liuwang appeared on the bark as his fists pounded the tree.<br>"Break, damn you BREAK!" Ozai yelled one final time as the tree finally snapped and fell with a great creak. Ozai stared down at his hands, panting, and noticed the damage.  
><em>It's just a flesh wound.<em> He thought to himself as he wiped the blood on his prison leggings. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and walked towards the camp. As his foot crossed the threshold between the forest and the camp, an armored soldier immediately came to greet him and pointed out his temporary tent. Ozai took note of the soldier's armor. It was definitely not as menacing as that of the average Fire Nation foot soldier and was much similar. Whereas the Fire Nation's soldiers were equipped with extravagant suits of armor, the soldiers of the Skybenders were dressed in simple, grey metal chest pieces and leather greaves, with metallic wide brimmed hats that reminded Ozai of travelling monks. Each soldier carried a long metal rod, no doubt to increase the accuracy of their strikes of thunder.  
><em>So they prefer to fight from a distance,<em>Ozai thought to himself as he was led to his tent, _cowards.  
><em>Ozai entered his tent, which was little more than a dirt floor with a simple cooking set and fire pit the center. On his bedroll, Ozai saw a new set of clothes which were as simple as the tent he was in; a brown leather tunic and leggings. Sighing in annoyance, Ozai changed and proceeded to wrap his bruised hands with the fabric from his prison robes. Once he was done, the former Fire Lord took a moment to take in his surroundings.  
>"So this is what it's come to?" he asked himself, "In a peasant's tent, wearing a commoner's clothes and on the run from your own damn country."<br>_It's probably what Zuko felt like when you exiled him._ A small part of his mind echoed in response to his own words. Ozai groaned and shook his head, refusing to be contradicted by his own mind. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Ozai stepped out of his tent and preceded to Liuwang's which, to his massive disappointment, was more majestic and luxurious than his own. Ozai steeled himself and opened the flap, entering the tent.  
>As he stepped in, Liuwang turned to face him.<br>"Ah! Ozai, before we get down to business there's someone I'd like you to meet." Liuwang stepped to the side and a figure stepped out from behind him. As the figure approached the light, Ozai staggered backwards as he recognized who it was.  
>"Good evening Father." Azula grinned, as she stepped towards him.<p>

_**Oh dear, it looks as if Ozai has something horrible planned for the Avatar and his friends! Just like old times.  
>And I really had fun writing his little hissyfit earlier on since I did the same thing to my door once I realized that I had an exam the next day.<br>Anyway, review and I'll see you next time!  
>- Scratchy<strong>_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Alright, I see that the previous chapter was a bit too Ozai centric. So, let's see what our heroes are up to…**_

"…and here's the university." Zheng announced, motioning to a massive, golden pyramid that lay in the center of the sprawling metropolis from the monorail that housed the small group. Katara and Sokka stared open-mouthed at the grand structure from an open window while Toph "read" an embossed diagram of the building printed on a sheet of paper. It, of course, couldn't compare to the real thing.  
>"We are now passing the Great Sky Temple!" Zheng said excitedly even though he had seen the temple many times in the past. The others couldn't blame him, the temple had to be the highest structure in the entire Thunder Kingdom, and that was saying something as the university was at least 25 stories high.<br>The temple towered above the rest of the city like a great golden pillar, stretching up to the heavens as if to welcome the presence of thunder amongst the town's people. It was a welcome and common presence as everywhere the group looked, there were small representations of thunder amongst daily life, from the deep thumping drums of street performers to the rich, majestic color scheme of the city that symbolized the power of thunder, it seemed that thunder was in everyone and everything.  
>While the others were pre-occupied with sightseeing, Aang was focused on the people of the city. Being revealed as the Avatar at such an early age meant that Aang never really had the chance to live a normal social life amongst the other Air Nomads. <em>But are they really nomads anymore?<em>He thought to himself as he watched a group of teens chatting beneath the shade of a tree.  
>In his time, the Air Nomads had been very reserved, humble people, believing that all things were equal and that a simple lifestyle was the way of life. Here, in Lei jin shi, it seemed that everyone lived an aristocratic lifestyle, existing only to appeal to their materialistic wants and needs. As the monorail advanced forward, Aang saw that the holy shrines of old that had decorated every home of the Nomads had been replaced with either exotic boutiques or restaurants. Maybe the Air Nomads he once knew truly didn't exist anymore and these people were just imitators of a once great tribe. As soon as the thought entered his mind, Aang furiously shook it loose. It had been a hundred years since he last saw ANY Air Nomads! Maybe his old civilization was simply adapting to the new world. <em>That's got to be it.<em>Aang thought to himself as the monorail slowed to a stop. Or was that desperate hope which had voiced the reassurance?  
>"We're here!" Zheng said enthusiastically as he hopped of the monorail. The 4 heroes disembarked, temporarily blinded by the sunlight, and immediately gasped at what they saw once their sight returned.<br>In front of them was the Grand Palace of the Royal Family. The 4 teens stood in awe at it as the spires and battlements towered above them. Aang was particularly amazed at what he saw.  
>This was no Southern Air Temple.<br>The palace was built completely out of gold, with high spires and pristine grounds that probably took a small army of servants to maintain. As the group passed through the gates, a majestic garden came into view, with trees and plants from all corners of the world and animals from similarly diverse backgrounds. Sokka and Katara recognized several otter-penguins roaming the arctic habitat and Toph felt the familiar steps of a badger mole close by. However, Aang was not as impressed as he searched fruitlessly for a sky bison or winged lemur to no avail. Then, from behind, he heard a familiar deafening roar and spun around, excited to finally see another sky bison than Appa. Unfortunately, it was just that and Aang's heart sank at the sight of everyone's favorite sky bison munching away on some hay. Aang turned away, crest fallen, and rejoined the group.  
>"Looking for something?" Someone said from behind him. Aang craned his neck to see a very scruffy looking boy around his age, dressed in simple robes and leaning on a cane.<br>"Are you the curator or something?" Aang asked hopefully, turning to face the boy.  
>"Something like that." He chuckled, "What're you lookin' for?"<br>"Sky bisons"  
>The boy craned his neck around for a second and pointed at Appa, "How about that one?"<br>Aang shook his head disappointingly, "No, that one's mine. You got any others?  
>The boy was taken aback by thus statement as his eyes went wide.<br>"Woah, you're the Avatar ain't you?" He said, amazed. Aang chuckled at this. Despite the many times it had been done before, he still found the bewildered looks of people that met him endearing.  
>"Yeah. I am. Saving the world, keeping the balance, all that stuff." The boy laughed and offered his hand.<br>"Nice to meet you, Avatar."  
>He turned his head to the sound of someone calling, "I'll see you soon."<br>Aang looked in the direction of the noise and saw a servant motioning for the boy to come over, "Is that your mother?"  
>The boy chuckled, "Something like that." He replied and took off across the grounds, moving quite fluidly despite his limp. Aang smiled at his little encounter and sped off on his own way to find the group.<p>

_**Later…**_

Sokka let out a groan and fell on to the mattress, his body welcoming the cool silk. Just as sleep wrapped it's fingers around his weary head, Toph grabbed his ear and yanked him up.  
>"C'mon Snoozles." She said, dragging the half sleeping warrior along with her, out of the guest bedrooms and through the halls.<br>"Where'rewe go..ing…?" Sokka asked groggily from beside her as he half stumbled, half flew down the brightly lit hallway.  
>"We're going to meet the royal family now, Sokka." Toph said, turning left and right sharply down many narrow corridors, her enhanced senses easily navigating the hallways.<em><strong><br>**_**"**So wake up." She said, "accidently" shifting her foot to the right and sending a small pillar of earth right into Sokka's groin. His eyes practically exploded open as he grabbed his injured loins and slowly sank to the floor.  
>"That help?" Toph said, barely able to contain her laugh.<br>"Possibly." Sokka squeaked from the floor, his voice rising by several octaves. This caused the floodgates to open and Toph collapsed alongside Sokka on the golden floor of the Grand Palace, laughter spewing from her mouth.

Katara heard the laugher from the hall and excused herself from the dining table and poked her head through the grand arch that connected the hallway to the Thunder King's personal dining room.  
>"What ARE you doing?" She whispered harshly to Sokka and Toph who were on the ground, one groaning in pain the other laughing to death.<br>"Just…giving Sokka…a…wake up call." Toph replied between laughing. Katara shook her head at the sight. The two of them were honestly endearing at times but there were times to laugh and times not to.  
>Being in the audience of the Thunder King was probably one of those times.<br>Helping Sokka to his feet and taking Toph by her arm, Katara led the two into the dining room.  
>"I'm so sorry sir," Katara said to the King, tossing the two into their seats, "They're really good warriors I assure you."<br>The King simply burst out laughing at this, "Honestly Katara, if they were any different, I'd be worried." He said chuckling heartily.  
>Sokka had finally ceased feeling pain in his groin and looked up from his hunched over position. He looked at the King and was surprised at what he saw. With a name like the Thunder King, Sokka had expected someone more…Fire Lordish. However, the monarch before him was rather pudgy and had a warm smile in stark contrast to Zuko's near constant scowl and battle ready physique. The King actually reminded Sokka greatly of Iroh, with a great beard and piercing blue eyes which gave him a wizened appearance.<br>Sokka also noticed the great hunk of meat the King was currently devouring and stared lovingly at it. The King caught his stare and laughed heartily, grabbing another slab from the grand platter before them and slamming it down on Sokka's plate.  
>"Eat, boy! The least I can do for someone who took down an entire Fire Nation war balloon is provide him with some quality meat. I see that your companion has already done the same." He chuckled, motioning at Toph who was currently buried under a mound of meat but was working her way up fast.<br>"Now that we are all settled," The King said, rising to his feet, "I would like you all to meet my son and future heir to the throne, Prince Erzi de Lei Sheng" The King clapped his hands and a figure walked into the room. As Aang looked up from his meal, he almost spat out the salad he was eating.  
>Scruffy hair, slight limp. It was the boy from the gardens.<br>"Hey Avatar." Erzi grinned, waving. "We meet again eh?" Aang stared bewildered.  
>"You're..you're the PRINCE!" He almost cried.<br>"Yeah," Erzi said, chuckling, "Something like that."

_**YAY! That's chapter 3 done. Just so you guys know, I try to get 3 pages in Word for each chapter, so I may be slow writing the next chapter.  
>Special thanks to PureJasmineBlossom for being the first to review and favorite my story. Thanks!<br>Also, check my deviant if you'd please since I'm also updating there.  
>That's all for now. Ciao!<br>- Scratchy**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**On with the show…**_

Erzi leaned on his cane, smirking at Aang's shocked expression. As he took a seat next to his father, Aang's face slowly turned back to normal.  
>"So if you're the prince, what were you doing in those clothes?" Erzi chuckled at this and helped himself to some chicken.<br>"Well, I like to relate to my subjects so I guess wearing their clothes applies as such."  
>"Also, you've got no fashion sense." The King intoned from next to Erzi. The prince glared his father, who simply burst out laughing at his son's expression, which immediately softened as he joined his father in laughter.<br>"You can't blame be for hating royal clothes. You designed them." He shot back, smirking. His father returned an equally amused look.  
>"What can I say? I am no artist."<br>Both father and son burst out laughing at this soon the others joined in.  
>"You will make a find King one day, Erzi." The King said, slapping his son on the back. Erzi smiled back at him.<br>"I'll have one heck of an act to follow."

For the next hour or so the royal family, which the gang gathered at this point was just Erzi and his father, and the 4 young warriors swapped stories of their exploits and the Thunder Kingdom. Sokka prided himself in telling the tale of how he single-handedly took down a Fire Nation war balloon, a story which everyone present had heard many times, and described his training with the legendary Pian Doa, while Aang humbly described his incredible feat of Energybending.  
>"We will have to give you lessons in Skybending, young Avatar." The King said thoughtfully after hearing this. Aang looked down at his food sheepishly.<br>"I…can't." He said, reluctantly. "It's just that…you see…we've just come out of a major war and…the people _really_need me to keep the peace." The King smiled at his words.  
>"You are wise beyond your years, Aang." He said, rising. "However, I am sure that you are familiar with the phrase, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. But teach that man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime" are you not?"<br>Aang nodded as the King's words sank into him.  
>"If the people of the world expect you to help them at every turn, they will never learn to fight their own battles. You must give them time to learn or doom them forever."<br>Aang looked at the King, shocked, but found that there was nothing he could say in return. The King was right.  
>"He's got a point Aang." Katara chimed in. "Remember Haru and his father? If I hadn't convinced them to rebel against the guards, imagine what might have happened. The Fire Nation would have probably kept at arresting Earthbenders until none were left."<br>"I agree with Katara, Aang." Sokka said, his face serious. "I say you stay here and master Skybending. That way when you return, you'll have a new way to help people. And you'll probably be able to shoot THUNDER!" Sokka cried, doing a rather awful impersonation of an Airbender.  
>"We'll even let Toph stay with you, just in case you get lonely." Katara butted in, trying to halt her brother's antics. From his right, Toph slugged Aang softly in the arm.<br>"Don't worry, Twinkle Toes. I'll make sure you don't end up toasting yourself." She smiled. Aang looked at Sokka and Katara but their expressions told them all he needed to know.  
>"Alright." Aang said to the King, smiling. "I'll stay."<p>

After the grand feast, the small party of Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph excused themselves to bed. Aang quickly checked on Momo, who was comfortably settled in the royal stables. He also saw to it that Appa was well fed for his journey the next day.  
>"I'll see you soon, buddy." Aang said, slightly tearfully, to the sky bison he had known since before the dark times of the war. The faithful beast snored in return and Aang, contented with his lifelong companion's reply, left to bed.<p>

At night the entire palace slept. No servants were afoot, and no sounds were made. There was not even a single creak in the majestic compound's foundation which made it seem like the entire city had gone to sleep. This was indeed the case, as by now every citizen, performer and soldier was asleep, setting a comfortable silence over the city of Lei jin shi.  
>Well, almost everyone was asleep.<br>A lone figure darted through the halls of the palace, limping slightly as it made its way up to the royal home's grand observatory. Taking the stairs two at a time, the figure threw open a set of double doors and stared dreamily into the night sky.  
>Erzi sighed softly as the light of the stars and the moon softly caressed his face. In the soft light, his every feature was given a steady blue glow, from his lithe but strong form, his sharp facial features and the blue arrows that adorned his forehead and arms. Slowly exhaling, Erzi moved into a fighting stance, his fists up, guarding his face and his knees bent, ready to move at a moment's notice.<br>Getting on one knee, Erzin reared his left fist back and slowly pushed his right outwards. Immediately, the soft hum of the thunder within him was heard throughout the silent room and the pale moonlight that surrounded Erzi steadily grew brighter. As the hum slowly faded, Erzin rose to his feet and bowed to an invisible master. As soon as his body came out of the bow, Erzin widened his stance and performed a series of kicks, each one becoming more complex than the last. As he traversed the sides of the room, streaks of light began to slice the air each time one of his kicks soared. And each time Erzi's legs would tear through the night air, a tremendous pressure would increase within him. Finally, as he completed a full circle of the room, Erzin sank on his knees. Gathering all the energy he had left, Erzin sprang to his feet and fired a massive bolt of light though the open roof of the observatory, which left a loud roar of thunder within its wake.  
>Panting, Erzi allowed himself to relax and slumped up against a nearby wall.<br>_It's still not right. _Erzi thought with a frustrated groan. In his mind, he began to list out all the little mistakes of his form and his stance, with every imperfection feeling like a punch to the gut. Sighing in defeat, he once again assumed his stance.

Toph, for the lack of a better word, was amazed. Although she could not physically see Erzi, he was making enough noise for her mind's eye to paint a very clear picture. She "saw" in detail the accuracy and power of his kicks as he traversed the room multiple times, repeating his drill despite the obvious hesitation whenever he kicked with his left leg. After what seemed like hours, Erzi finally allowed himself to rest; slumping up against the wall and slowly sliding down to the floor. Even as he sat there panting, he was making enough noise for Toph to still be able to see him. And even though she could not make out any details, Toph could still "see" his strong, lean body and could make out the way he was sat, with his left leg stretched outwards. Finally, as Erzi stood up and made his way back to the door leading downwards into the palace, Toph made her move.

"Nice." She said, sneaking up behind him.  
>Erzi yelped in surprise and leapt from his relaxed position, assuming his stance once again.<br>"Relax Stumpy." Toph chuckled, walking into the moonlight. "S'just me."  
>Erzi nodded and relaxed his stance, noting her presence.<br>Then he noticed what Toph had just called him.  
>"Excuse me, exactly what did you mean by "Stumpy"?" Toph chuckled at this and pointed in the general direction of his legs.<br>"One of your legs is broken isn't it? So I call you Stumpy, 'cause you've only got one leg!" Toph laughed.  
>The laughter was not shared.<br>Erzi rolled up the pants leg on his left leg and pointed at it.  
>"See? Not broken." He scowled.<br>"See what, Stumpy? I'm blind." Toph shot back expecting profuse apologies from Erzi. Instead, she gasped as he grabbed her hand and ran it along his entire leg, from thigh to calf.  
>"Feel that then? It's not broken." He said triumphantly, flexing his calf muscles. Toph shivered involuntarily as she felt the strong muscle shifting and sliding beneath his skin and she ran her hand along his leg again, firmer this time, as she felt the essence of thunder still humming softly within. Unconsciously, she ran her hand up his leg and onto his body, feeling the muscles of his abdomen tense up at her touch. Moving further upward, she reached his face, feeling his sharp features with both hands and running her hand along the slightly rough skin of the tattoo on his forehead.<br>Suddenly, she realized the position she was in and reared her hand back.  
>"Alright, alright! Jeez, you didn't have to hold my hand for that long!" Toph yelled, a blush forming on her pale cheeks.<br>"Uh, Toph?" Erzi grinned, catching her blush in the moonlight.  
>"I let go of you a long time ago."<br>_Crap._ Toph thought as she blushed even harder, sure that Erzi was seeing every detail.  
>"Yeah? Well, whatever. I'm going to bed!" She yelled storming off while Erzi simply leaned against the wall and grinned, looking back up at the moon. That was unexpected.<br>_Crapcrapcrap!_Toph's mind screamed as she made her way down the halls, putting as much distance between her and Erzi as possible. _I am not crushing on the Thunder Prince, I am not crushing on the Thunder Prince, I am not crushing on the Thunder Prince!_She repeated in her mind like a mantra. This was impossible! She was Toph, the Blind Bandit, and the Greatest Earthbender in the world and yet here she was, swooning over some rich prince who lived in the mountains.  
>"No!" She growled to herself, stomping down the halls, causing paintings and ornaments to plummet and crash upon the floor.<br>_That's it. I'm telling him right to his stupid head to leave me alone. Right to his stupid, sharp, muscular, shaggy haired…"_  
>Suddenly, she stopped walking and groaned in frustration as the realization hit her.<br>_Oh Spirits, I'm totally crushing on him. _

_**Screw it, I lied. I'm totally gonna pair Toph with Erzi!  
>Anyway, read and review this as usual and look forward to the next chapter. Ciao!<br>- Scratchy**_

_**[EDIT]  
>I replaced the chapters with more grammatically correct ones since my writing was HORRENDOUS according to my editor, Kevin.<strong>_


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Aang watched from the Grand Palace's observatory as Appa, along with Sokka and Katara, disappeared into the distance.  
>"You made the right choice." Erzi said from behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder and pulling back him to the stairs that led back into the palace.<br>"Now, c'mon." Erzi said, grinning.  
>"You wanna learn how to shoot thunder don't you?" He asked as he led Aang through the many hallways of the palace and through a set of doors into a large gymnasium like area. Aang looked around in amazement at the variety of weapons that lined the walls and then at the ceiling which was decorated by a massive mural that showed a man dressed in blue and white robes and wearing a wide brimmed, straw hat bending thunder atop a mountain.<br>"That's the first Skybender." Erzi intoned from behind him, snapping Aang out of his daze.  
>"Its said that he was born from a Firebending father and an Airbending mother." Aang nodded, still staring at the mural. Erzi continued his explanation as Aang quietly took in every detail of the man in the wide brimmed hat.<br>"At the end of the eradication of the Air Nomads, there were very few survivors. This was because, thankfully, the invasion took place during the time of my family's traditional pilgrimage to the Western Air temple but by the time my ancestors got halfway there, the Fire Nation started looking for Airbenders so they had to turn back. When they finally returned, there was nothing left of the Southern Air temple." Erzi finished. He turned back to Aang, expecting the Avatar's eyes to still be focused on the mural. Instead, Aang was staring wide-eyed at him, his expression begging Erzi to continue.  
>"What happened next?" Erzi turned away and looked towards the mural, his eyes squinted in concentration. "I don't really know. Some say my ancestors travelled until they reached what was left of the Northern Air Temple and tried to settle there. Others say that they were eventually discovered by a small troop of around a hundred or so Fire Benders but reached a truce and established a society up here."<br>"That's probably where Skybending came from." Aang nodded, agreeing with him.  
>"Anyway, enough of that." Erzi said, turning back to Aang with a grin on his face. "Let's bend some thunder."<br>Erzi went into a low stance, his hands guarding his face, and his bad leg stretched out behind him.  
>"It's a lot like Airbending." Erzi explained, shifting into different forms with a practiced ease. His movements were fast and flighty but strong at the same time. "You've got to keep moving to keep the thunder within you. If you remain rooted to one spot, the thunder will pass through you and into the ground."<br>Erzi demonstrated this by stomping the foot of his good leg onto the ground. Instantly, a loud hum was heard and the ground beneath him rumbled as thunder passed through him into the ground.  
>"Y'see?" Erzi said, straightening up and grinning. "Nothing to it." Aang nodded and mirrored Erzi's stance. Erzi grinned and went into his stance, charging his thunder once more.<br>"Let's begin."

For the next few hours, Aang and Erzi trained and sparred. Aang's experience with Firebending and Airbending helped him to adapt to the combination of the two styles that made up the basics of Skybending. Eventually, the two progressed to more complex forms, made up of flying kicks and high knees.  
>Halfway through their training session, Toph entered the room and observed the two benders. The gymnasium's dirt floor gave her a very detailed view of Erzi's body twisting and tensing with each move.<br>_NO!_ Toph's mind screamed, _Focus on Aang, focus on Aang, focus on Aang… _Toph repeated mentally. She bent the earth beneath her into a platform, trying to block out the vibrations coming from Erzi. This, however, had the completely opposite effect as the additional earth amplified his movements and sounds, and Toph could now clearly hear every grunt and pant Erzi made as he trained and she found herself, once again, frozen on the spot, ogling the Thunder Prince. As the session progressed, Toph noticed that he was favoring his right leg over his left and that his breathing was rapidly becoming more strained with pain. Still, he put on a brave face and plowed on, showing Aang all the forms he knew.  
>Finally, the two stopped, panting but grinning broadly at each other.<br>"Looks like you've got the basics, Aang." Erzi panted, grinning. Aang smiled back and bowed.  
>"Thank you, Sifu Erzi." Erzi raised an eyebrow at this.<br>"Whoa, slow down there, Avatar." Erzi replied, patting Aang on the head. "You've just learned the basics. Now," Erzi motioned to the door exiting the gym, "I've taught you all I know."  
>"But now wha…" Aang began but was cut off by Erzi pushing him towards the door.<br>"I'VE taught you all I know." He pointed at the door leading to the Thunder King's chambers. "Go talk to my dad about the rest. Aang's face light up instantly and he sped towards the door, a strong gust of wind in his wake. Erzi laughed at the boy's excitement and leaned against the wall. Suddenly, his smile dropped and he clutched his left leg, groaning in pain. Gritting his teeth, he slowly drew a smoky trail of light from his leg which quickly dissipated into the air.  
>"Stupid!" he growled to himself as the pain slowly throbbed into nothing.<br>"What is rule 1?" Erzi heard the booming voice of his former master echo in his mind.  
>"Always make sure that there is no thunder left in you." Erzi replied out loud through tightly clenched teeth. "Otherwise, it will burn you whole." Staring down at his left leg, he silently lamented at the black veins that adorned it.<br>"Should've listened." He said to the empty room as he slowly slumped down onto the ground. Once he was comfortably seated, Erzi looked up and closed his eyes.  
>"You might as well come out, Toph." He said to the ceiling. "Noise or not, no one sneaks up on me."<br>From behind him, Toph let out a defeated sigh and came down from her earth platform. She walked in silence over to where Erzi was sitting and plopped down next to him with a grunt, her eyes avoiding his face even though she knew it would make no difference.  
>"So?" She asked him, still not turning her head to face him.<br>"You were watching me practice weren't you?"  
>"And? What about it?" Toph replied with a huff, trying to conceal a blush. "I've never seen a Skybender in action before." Erzi smiled wryly at this.<br>"Now you and I both know that's a lie." He chuckled. "What's the real reason you stayed to watch?" Toph remained silent. Erzi chuckled at this and leaned in close to her ear.  
>"Come on Toph." He drawled, lowering his voice and talking directly into her ear, making her shiver "Was it my kicks? Or maybe it was my speed that got you so… <em>captivated.<em>" He almost purred this last word, squeezing her arm lightly, causing Toph's breath to hitch in her throat.  
>"Alright, alright!" Toph growled, shaking herself free of his grip, the remnants of her blush fading slowly enough for Erzi to catch a glimpse. "!" She spat out, the words leaping off of her tongue.<br>"I'm sorry what?" Erzi smirked. "Didn't catch that."  
>"I wanted to ask you why your leg was hurting so much." Toph sighed, regaining control of her voice. "You were practically whimpering back there. Why?" She asked, facing him directly now. Erzi sighed. Inside, he knew she was lying. He knew one didn't just wait for hours just to ask a person why their leg was hurting. Still, his royal upbringing demanded that he answered a lady's questions, no matter how absurd.<br>"When I first learned to Skybend, I was told by my master to always make sure that any thunder I borrowed from the sky during combat would be given back regardless of how much I used." He explained while Toph just sat there, listening. "One day, I was sure that I'd used up all the thunder I borrowed so I didn't bother to return it." His expression darkened and he stared regretfully at his left leg. "I paid for it."

_Erzi panted as he completed his drill, the hum of thunder slowly leaving him. He straightened up and bowed to his master and turned to leave.  
>"Erzi!" His master scolded, causing him to turn around. "Aren't you forgetting something?" The 7 year old simply laughed in return.<br>"Relax Sifu Laoshi!" He laughed. "I used up all of it. I'm sure." The boy turned back towards the path to the palace gates and put his left foot forward.  
>Then he screamed.<br>Laoshi's eyes widened in horror as the boy's leg pulsed unnaturally and began to sizzle as the remaining thunder inside him forced it way out. Erzi convulsed on the ground, unable to move because of the pain of his muscles and bone being burned. Loashi rushed to the boy's side and ran his hand over Erzi's left leg. A smoky trail of light emerged but almost disappeared back into the burning leg, determined to cut its way out.  
>"No." Laoshi commanded and the trail of light complies, dissipating into the wind and back towards the sky. The old man then faced his student, who was now only half conscious and delirious with pain.<br>"Oh Erzi." He sighed sadly. "Your father will be most displeased."_

"After that day, we never saw him again." Erzi said sadly, ending his tale. "Dad wasn't mad at him at all, he actually blamed me and the spirits more than anything. But I guess Loashi didn't stay long enough to hear about it."  
>"So why the pain?" Toph asked, pushing forward. It was bad enough she was crushing on the guy. Seeing him cry would have been more mushy stuff than she could take in one sitting.<br>"The bones and muscles never healed right." Erzi explained almost mechanically. "They're there, but hollow. Burned from the inside out." He turned to Toph who still looked confused. "Let me show you." He said, taking her hand and once again placing on his leg. This time, she didn't resist and felt around his left leg. However, her senses only met with solid muscle.  
>"You'll have to look deeper." Erzi said and Toph complied, looking past the muscle and at the bones. After a few minutes, Toph suddenly gasped and yanked her hand away. Erzi bolted upright in surprise, a look of concern on his face.<br>"What happened? Did I hurt you?" He asked, his voice laced with worry.  
>"No, no." Toph replied, shaking her head. "It's what I saw. Your bones are like tunnels underground. They're solid on the outside but inside…" She hesitated but Erzi's motioned for her to continue. "Inside there's nothing. It's like the bone's fake." Erzi nodded, agreeing with her. The two sat there, in silence, until Erzi finally spoke.<br>"Come on, I'll get us some tea." He said, standing up and offering his hand. The prospect of a nice, hot cup of tea appealed greatly to the young Earthbender and she eagerly took his hand, as they walked towards the kitchen.  
>"I'm Erzi, by the way." Erzi said, smirking. Toph returned his smirk and punched him lightly on the arm.<br>"Toph. Nice to meet you, Stumpy."

_**Whoo! There's chapter 5. Now, I honestly have little experience writing any fluff. So please be kind and review this chapter and my…er…performance specifically.  
>And remember, the more reviews, the faster I update.<br>Ciao!  
>- Scratchy <strong>_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Special thanks to setlib who reviewed my story. Your advice was extremely useful for me when I wrote this chapter, and I know that it will help me on later writing. Thanks! Oh, and Kevin had an exam a few days ago so, yeah, hope he did well with that. (Kevin's my editor.)**_

_**Anyway, on with the show!**_

Ozai awoke to the sound of birds chirping in the distance and breathed in the cool morning air that surrounded the small camp. In another life, this may have seemed peaceful to him. Alas, he was not here to appreciate nature like some stubborn Earthbender. Powers or not, Ozai was a Firebender, and he was here for a purpose. With the sun still low and the sky still dark, Ozai left his tent and made his way quietly towards the woods. Walking quietly, Ozai began to let his mind wander as the serenity of the forest entered his senses. To anybody who had previously been under his rule, even his most high ranking generals, this would have been a strange sight indeed; the menacing, benevolent Fire Lord and, briefly, Phoenix King wondering around the forest in a peasants clothing nonetheless. However as he neared a familiar gate, he snapped out of his reverie and allowed his menacing look to once again envelop his face. As he neared the gate, a single sentry noticed him and motioned for a small group of men in Fire Nation uniforms to line up. Ozai approached the group and began walking down the line, noting the faces of each of the men. Walking down the line, he stopped at a bearded man, who tensed up immediately as he noticed Ozai's eyes on him.

"General Cho." Ozai said, staring deep into the man's eyes. "How long has it been?"

M-My Lord?" Cho stammered and began to sweat.

"You heard me, Cho." Ozai growled, grabbing the man's neck. "How long has it been since you BETRAYED ME?" Ozai yelled as he threw the man to the ground and swiftly kicked him in the stomach, winding him.

"What was your duty during the passing of Sozin's Comet, Cho?" Ozai asked the man as he lay on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

"T-to guard the e-entrance to the royal palace, my lord."

"Exactly. And you failed at that."

"M-my Lord, I-" Cho stammered, but was interrupted as Ozai landed another kick, this time on his back, which he felt even through the armor.

"DON'T play coy with me, Cho." Ozai growled, grabbing the man and slamming him against a nearby tree. "It was YOUR fault that the Water Tribe girl and Zuko managed to get into the capital in the first place."

"But it was the day of Princess Azula's coronation my Lord! We couldn't spare and troops!" Cho cried desperately. Ozai narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip around Cho's neck.

"How many troops are there in the Fire Nation domestic forces, General Cho?" Ozai growled through gritted teeth.

"Over a hundred thousand my Lord!"

"And you couldn't spare even a HUNDRED to guard the border?" Ozai stretched out his hand and motioned for the sword of a nearby soldier. He drew it, but Ozai did not take it.

"General Cho, for treason against the Fire Nation, you will be executed." He turned to the soldier holding the sword. "Execute this man." The entire troop was shocked into silence at this.

"Why us?" One of them finally asked. Ozai grinned sadistically at this.

"Don't you remember? I'm no longer a citizen of the Fire Nation, therefore, I cannot possibly harm a fellow Firebender." Ozai replied, barely able to contain his laughter at the sarcasm of his words.

"So execute that man." Ozai ordered, turning away from the soldier to face the men in line.

"You are now under my rule, once again." He said, pausing to smile at the dull thunk of sword meeting flesh that came from behind him. "Since you are all high ranking officers in your own respective fields, you will command your troops to stand down in the face of the oncoming invasion." Ozai's request was met with shock but he had expected this and continued.

"You all must understand, once the Skybenders reclaim Capital City under my name, my rule will be absolute. Any sign of resistance will snuffed out immediately, military or not. Also, I assure you that those aiding the reclamation will be spared from the fight and may even prosper." There were a few scattered murmurs in the line and Ozai grinned, knowing that he had them.

"Yes, you will prosper. Under the rule of Zuko, many of the Fire Nation's lands and territories have been lost. However, when I once again take the throne, we will reclaim all that was once ours." Ozai finished, smirking at his easy victory over the generals. Continuing down the line, he addressed every general individually.

"General Tso, you were relieved of your command in the air force, were you not?" Ozai asked a pale, old man, dressed in an officer's uniform that hung off of his thin body, who nodded sadly. "Then under my rule, the air force will once again belong to you." Tso looked up at Ozai, his eyes wide, and saluted, pledging his allegiance. Satisfied, Ozai continued down the line.

"General Ling, the domestic forces are now yours. General Kahn, the infantry will be yours. General Raam, the Colonies will be yours indefinitely. And you…" Ozai said, stopping in front of a slightly rotund man with brown hair and amber eyes. "General Shinu." The man looked up as Ozai addressed him.

"Yes my lord?" He asked hopefully.

"The Yu Yan Archers. What has become of them?" Shinu glanced around uneasily at the question.

"They have…been tasked with…" He began.

"Yes?" Ozai asked, impatiently.

"They have been tasked with hunting you down my lord!" Shinu nearly cried as he finished his sentence, squeezing his eyes shut, expecting a blow from Ozai. However, the ex-Fire Lord simply chuckled and placed a hand on his subordinates shoulder.

"Very well then, general. Call them off, and you will be spared." Shinu nodded gratefully and immediately left to go dispatch a messenger hawk. Ozai then turned to address the line.

"You all belong to me now." He said with quiet authority. "In a few days time an army of Skybenders will approach Capital City and reclaim it in my name." Ozai paused and glared at his generals. "I expect them to succeed."

An uncomfortable silence came down upon the small group of generals as they slowly took in their Fire Lord's demand. After a few wordless minutes, a young colonel at the end of the line spoke up.

"What about the domestic forces?" He asked, his voice trembling. "They have no one to order them to stand down." Ozai glanced at the colonel and smirked when he saw his face. It was the same person Ozai had ordered to execute General Cho.

"Then they'll just have to defend their homeland like the good soldiers they are." Ozai replied, grinning sadistically.

"But…my lord!" The colonel gasped, shocked at the order but was silenced by Ozai's glare.

"Silence, imbecile!" Ozai said harshly, slapping the young colonel across his face. "General Cho decided to betray me when he let the Water Tribe peasant and my so called "son" into Capital City, endangering my daughter! Believe me when I say, he brought this upon himself." Ozai finished, motioning to the corpse of the late general that was now silently oozing blood onto the forest floor. The young colonel gagged at what he saw and nearly vomited when he remembered the feeling of his sword meeting General Cho's neck. Satisfied with his reaction, Ozai turned back to the line.

"There is now the issue of the Avatar." He said. "He is the only link between me and the reclamation of the Fire Nation. For the invasion to work, we must-"

"Ahem." Ozai paused as he was interrupted by Shinu, who went on talking before Ozai could threaten his life. "The Avatar left the Fire Nation 2 weeks ago my lord. So far, only the Water tribe siblings have returned." Ozai's eyes widened at this news and he allowed the grin to spread on his face.

"Very good, Shinu." He replied simply and turned back to the line. "I trust there will be no more news." The generals shook their heads. "Then I trust that all of you will cooperate with me and the Skybenders?" There were a few murmurs in the line but the generals all nodded obediently. Ozai returned their nod and turned back towards the forest path.

"We never spoke." He said and began down the path.

_**Sorry to cut this short, but I felt like I needed to update soon. The next chapter is on the way, but please read this for now. Lots of love!  
>- Scratchy<strong>_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender and make no money from this piece of writing. I do however, own the Skybenders. Heck yea.**_

Ozai reemerged from the forest just as the sun began its slow rise into the sky. He breathed deeply, savoring the warmth radiating from the largest source of fire known to mankind. Even though the soon-to-be Fire Lord had no Firebending to speak of, he could still appreciate the sense of power the sun granted him as it slowly warmed the world with its rays.

_And soon, I shall burn the world as the sun warms it. _Ozai thought to himself as he cast one last glance at Capital City's walls through the woods. Nodding resolutely, he entered the camp. Ignoring the welcome murmurs and gestures, he headed straight towards the uppermost tent in the canvas ring. Drawing back the entrance flap, Ozai entered and sat before a still sleeping Liuwang. Ozai groaned in disappointment at the sight. _A general who wakes before his men will sleep first in the battlefield._ Ozai thought, drawing upon Fire Lord Sozin's teachings.

A whole minute passed and Liuwang still did not stir from his slumber. _I could kill him right now, _Ozai's mind intoned as his thoughts became louder than the silent atmosphere of the tent. He clenched and unclenched his fists methodically as he stared at the sleeping Skybender, possibly the strongest one of his kind.

"No." Ozai replied aloud to his own mind, "Not just yet."

His musings appeared to do the trick and Liuwang awoke, rubbing his eyes groggily. He regarded Ozai with a nod and rose from his bed. Instantly, the low hum of his internal thunder awakening was heard. Noticing Ozai's perplexed expression, he explained.

"Young Skybenders rely on "borrowed" thunder from the sky. The older and more experienced ones have learned to maintain the thunder within us. Doesn't make for good sneaking though." Liuwang finished with a chuckle. Ozai nodded and spoke up.

"I've succeeded in meeting with my generals. They have agreed to allow your forces into Capital City without any resistance." Liuwang grinned at this and reclined into his bed.

"There's more." Ozai continued. "The domestic forces have not been informed of your arrival. You should expect some resistance from them."

"Oh? Is this some feeble attempt at killing me?" Liuwang asked, chuckling.

"Think of it as a show of power for the new rulers of the Fire Nation." Ozai replied simply. Satisfied with his answer, Liuwang rose out of his bed and moved towards the tent's flap. Ozai noted that the man slept in his armor.

"Your daughter's down by the waterfall." He said, walking to join his men around a large pot of boiled rice. "You should talk to her. She's been looking forward to the invasion ever since she got here. Oh, and before I forget, make sure her mind's in the right place. At least for the invasion."

With that, Liuwang left the tent, not knowing that his last few words hit Ozai far harder than he thought.

_Her mind._

_**Weeks ago.**_

"Good evening father." Azula grinned, stepping towards him.

"Azula." Ozai said, glancing at her.

"Not surprised to see me at all?" Azula pouted. "I thought that after being locked in YOUR prison, under YOUR guards, you would think it'd be surprising that I stayed alive all this time, much less escaped!"

"That's enough out of you Azula!" Ozai growled, facing his daughter. As his eyes made contact with her face, he recoiled, gasping.

"Like it?" Azula giggled, grinning and running a hand over the large burn mark that ran from the corners of her mouth, up her face and connecting to her ears.

"Azula, wha-"

"Oh, daddy," Azula interrupted, giggling hauntingly though her words. "You weren't there for me were you? When the Water Tribe BITCH and poor little ZuZu came after me, where was the mighty Phoenix King to defend me? Oh, that's right, you were off chasing your crazy dreams with the Fire Nation army, leaving your poor daughter defenseless!" She finished with a scream that probably woke half the Spirit world.

"How could you do something so _stupid?"_ Azula cried, grabbing her father by his shoulders and slamming him into one of the sturdy wooden tent poles. Ozai stared blankly at his daughter, or at least the person that was once Azula. The usual cold, calculating look in her eyes was now gone, replaced with something more…primal.

"You left me to _die_ father!" Azula screamed as tears began to fall from her eyes. "You left me to die, and I bet you wouldn't even have attended my _funeral_." Azula finished, tears now falling freely down her cheeks. Suddenly, she smiled, her grin spreading too far and too wide for it to be considered normal.

"But that's all in the past now isn't, daddy?" She said again in that hauntingly sweet voice, the giggles returning even as her tears flowed. "Now we have an empire to reclaim." Her demeanor changed immediately from crazed to the cold and heartless attitude Ozai was familiar with. Not that it made him any less wary of his daughter.

"I'll be in my tent." Azula said, casually, as if the entire heated verbal exchange between her and Ozai never happened, and excused herself from the tent, leaving Ozai staring at the spot where she was, dumbstruck.

"What happened to her in there?" Ozai finally said to Liuwang, who simply shook his head sadly.

"They broke her."

_**Present**_

From that day on, Azula never really reacted to the rest of the group, despite their best efforts at reaching out to her. She spent most of her time in the solitude of her tent, much like Ozai. However, unlike Ozai, her nights were spent screaming curses at Zuko, Katara, her mother and pretty much everyone else she saw fit. As their journey dragged on, these episodes of rage intensified to the point where Liuwang had stationed his best benders outside her tent for fear of the Fire Nation princess and, subsequently the most powerful Firebender in the world, going completely insane. At first, Ozai had protested, seeing no signs of any insanity. This all changed one day.

"_Azula?" Ozai called, searching the wooded area. The group had made a stop for the night near a small village for the night, posing as circus performers. Liuwang had even gone as far as recruiting those who could juggle and dance as performers for the village. Ozai silently grimaced at the memory of almost being chosen as one of the dancers. _

"_Daddy…" Ozai's train of thought was shaken by Azula's frail voice coming from somewhere behind him. He turned as followed it._

"_Azula?" He called out. "Get back into camp. We have matters to discuss about the inva-"_ _Ozai stopped dead at what he saw._

_There before him, a corpse of a young teen from the village, his throat ripped out and deep, red blood flowing freely from the wound. Straddling him, was Azula, the same blood smeared all over her lips._

"_Oh, hello father." Azula said, her tone suddenly steadying. "I thought I saw Zuko near the trees. It appears I was mistaken." Azula stood up and brushed herself off, wiping the blood from her lips with the sleeve of her robes. She walked past Ozai, who was still staring in shock at the corpse. However, it was not the wound on the boys neck he was staring at but more at the lack of burns on his body._

"_You didn't even Firebend?" He asked in disbelief._

"_Oh, that." Azula said, smiling. "I thought that if I didn't give him a warning shot, it would have made an easier kill." With that, she brushed past her father and proceeded back to camp without a word. Ozai simply stood and stared at the corpse before him._

From that day on, the entire troop and Ozai were on high alert. Azula never went anywhere more than a few feet beyond the camp and her tent was guarded by Skybenders whose powers were either close or equal to Liuwang's. Even Ozai himself slept with a dagger hitched to his belt.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ozai exited the tent and walked towards the canvas dome that housed the one thing that actually managed to scare him. As he approached the tents flap, a sudden pang of regret struck him.

"Agni help you, Zuko." He said as he envisioned Zuko's body in place of the boy who Azula so casually slaughtered.

"Agni help you. Fire Lord or not, there will be no stopping Azula. Not this time."

_**Anyone know who voices Ozai? That's right, Mark Hamill. And who else does Mark Hamill voice? Our favorite psycho, Joker.**_

_**With that in mind, I tried to make Azula as Joker-ish as possible since it really does fit her personality near the end of the series and is also a cool homage to what is probably my favorite villain (Sorry, Luthor, get in line). **_

_**So, please review this chapter if you're reading this. If I can get more than 5 reviews in the next 2 days, it'd be REALLY awesome and would also speed up the progress of the next chapter. So get your thoughts down people : ) That's all for now.  
>- Scratchy<strong>_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Whoa, whoa, whoa wait! I'm back in town for exactly 40 more hours then I'm off again to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. Let's see how much I can get done.**_

_**I saw The Last Airbender the other day, by the way. I'm still convince that the Ba Sing Sei players did a better job.**_

Katara yawned slightly as she loaded the last of her bags onto the saddle atop Appa. Staring out at the just rising sun, she suddenly lamented at her decision of waking up at the crack of dawn to go and pick up Aang. The trip only took a full day at the most and if she had left a little later, say when the world was actually awake, she would have made it by nightfall. Still, Katara remained adamant with her decision and hopped aboard the sky bison's back. _The sooner the better. _She thought to herself and grabbed the reigns. Truth be told, there was a strange sense of foreboding hanging about the entire Fire Nation capital the past few days and whether she knew it or not, Katara was anxious to leave. She almost took off but the sight of Sokka's hastily assembled pack reminded her that this was a trip for two and she dropped the reigns. As the silence of the early morning began to give way to the chirping of birds of awakening of the land, Katara crouched low into the saddle and began to meditate.

Elsewhere within the walls of the Fire Lord's majestic palace, Sokka awoke, yawning loud enough to wake the dead. Scratching his side, the Water Tribe Warrior stood and stumbled to the door and grabbed his armor in one bundled heap, clumsily putting it on as he stumbled down the hallways of the royal home half awake. With his armor on backwards and his hair in a tangled mess, Sokka pushed open the first set of doors he saw and stumbled headlong into the throne room. Raising his head, he was greeted with the sight of a very irked Fire Lord Zuko surrounded by a dozen men in simple, grey armor; their faces obscured by metallic conical hats.

"Did I miss something?" Sokka said after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"I don't know what's going on either." Zuko said, rising from his throne but was quickly blocked by two of the armored men. "They woke me up a few minutes ago," Zuko growled, begrudgingly sitting back down. "And here I am."

Sokka glanced back and forth nervously at the armored men. They seemed to stand perfectly still but the young warrior could feel a great but silent energy being emitted from them. Also the fact that they were all heavily muscled and armed with large metallic staffs didn't help to alleviate his nervousness one bit.

"Well…I'll just be going now then." Sokka stared to back out of the throne room but was stopped when his back met with a thick, armored torso. He turned around and came face to face with one of the men.

"Under orders from the Fire Lord, no one leaves this room until further notice." He said, his tone flat and unwavering.

"What orders!" Zuko yelled, leaping to his feet and pushing past the two men in his way. "I gave no such orders! I've been asleep for the past 8 hours! Who are you receiving these orders from? Who are you people?" He roared, marching towards the man in the doorway.

"Let me out." He growled. The man simply stared down at Zuko and shook his head.

"No one leaves, official orders."

"I GAVE NO ORDERS!" Zuko roared, fire leaping to his fists.

"Now let me through or I'll burn you down." At this, the man raised an eyebrow.

"I'm under orders." The man growled and slammed his metal staff. At this signal, the others raised their staffs and there was a loud boom and a bolt of light streaked down and engulfed him and the other armored men. The light rushed around their bodies, forming intricate patterns as it went, and finally gathered in their staffs. The men then raised their weapons, holding them like one would hold a rifle, with the tips aimed at Zuko and Sokka.

"No one leaves." He growled, his staff lowered. Zuko slowly extinguished the flames in his hands and backed down, retreating back to his throne. He motioned for Sokka to come with him and the two cautiously retreated to the ornate throne.

"I don't like this." Zuko whispered to the young warrior, never taking his eyes off of the armored man.

Katara bolted awake and blinked the sleep away from her eyes. She looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was well into its journey across the sky.

Sokka was still gone.

Katara dismounted Appa and strode back into the palace, intent on giving her brother an earful of her worst. However, as she stepped back into the palace, a sudden dread hit her. The castle suddenly seemed too dark and too large and the air felt heavy and wrong. As the dread filled her senses, Katara broke into a run and headed towards the throne room.

"How long?" Sokka whispered to Zuko, his gaze neutral.

"About an hour." He replied. The dozen armored men still hadn't budged an inch and judging by their stance, Zuko could now assume that the fire Nation was being invaded.

"What're they promising you?" He asked a random soldier; he was sure they weren't just random insurgents. The soldier did not reply and simply kept staring forward.

"They don't understand their position." A voice said. Zuko recognized it as the man who he had threatened earlier.

"All they understand is that they are pawns in a much larger game."

"And what game is this?" Zuko asked, his tone still steady. "Are you planning to take the Fire Nation in your name? Is this some kind of assassination attempt? You do know that if you lay a single hand on me, the entire Fire Nation military will come down upon your puny force." Zuko finished, expecting the man to strike a blow or snap in anger. To his surprise and horror, the man burst out laughing. His body convulsed as laughter wracked it and he hunched over slightly in great hilarity.

"What's so funny?" Zuko demanded, his tone clearly annoyed but the man kept laughing.

"WHATS SO FUNNY!" Zuko roared, losing his temper. The man's laughter faded and he stood up straight again.

"Stupid child." The man said, his voice suddenly changing, becoming horrifyingly familiar.

"No…" Zuko gasped, his eyes wide in bewilderment.

"Stupid, stupid child." Ozai chuckled as he removed his hat, his face showing. Zuko tensed up and sprung into a fighting stance as did Sokka, who drew his war club as the soldiers closed in on them.

"I've had you played all along." Zuko ignited his hands as the soldiers surrounded him but it was useless as they had him completely surrounded.

The room became still as the benders stood at the ready, prepared to unleash their fury at a moment's notice.

"I'd like you to meet someone." Ozai said suddenly, throwing open the doors. A figure stepped through as the heavy doors swung open and Zuko's eyes went wide.

"Hello, brother dear." Azula grinned as she stepped towards Zuko, assuming a fighting stance that reminded him of their duel. Except now there was no plan or function in her style, only pure primal rage.

"So what, is this it?" Zuko asked, attempting to sound dismissive to Azula but his wavering tone gave him away. "Are you going to defeat me and claim the throne under Ozai's name, reclaiming the honor of the Fire Nation?" Azula laughed and staggered on her feet slightly, the scars on the sides of her face contorting into a haunting grin.

"Of course not, ZuZu," She giggled. "Now I'm just going to kill you."

She charged.

_**Whoo! Done. Sorry if this seemed a little rushed but I've got to pack for tomorrow. Don't worry though, I'll still try to update whenever I get a connection. Also since I'll be sharing a room with my editor while building that there house, things'll hopefully get done a lot faster.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I also do not own The Last Airbender movie, thank god.**_

_**Also, yay! I found the line tool.**_

Azula charged, screaming with primal rage and not a trace of sense in her attack. Her arms were enveloped entirely in fire, which she used to slice the air in an attempt to strike Zuko down. Her efforts were deftly dodged and blocked by Zuko, however, but while her attacks simply flew past him, he still felt a certain fear. As the two siblings fought, he began to realize that this was no Agni Kai.

There were no rules and no honor at stake, Azula was here simply to kill him and there would be no stopping that.

Zuko yelled as another flaming arm missed him by an inch, singing his robes and heating his skin. He quickly ducked as a stray fireball was hurled past his head and struck the throne behind him, setting it ablaze.

"You haven't even fought back yet, ZuZu!" Azula screeched, hurling another fireball which was quickly dodged by Zuko once again.

"What's holding you back? WHY WON'T YOU HIT ME!" She screamed, trying once again to get close enough to impale her brother on her flaming arms but was denied as he dodged under her grasp and moved quickly to her back. Unfortunately for him, Azula saw this coming and kicked backwards, her foot landing squarely in Zuko's stomach. He feel to the ground and clutched his stomach in pain. Azula stood above him, grinning.

Without a word, she thrust a flaming fist into his chest.

* * *

><p>Katara rushed through the halls, her mind set on the throne room. A few minutes ago, she could have blamed intuition on giving her the urge to suddenly visit the throne room at dawn. But the massive bolt of light that just hit the palace, plus the familiar sounds of combat coming from behind the heavy ornate door convinced her otherwise. Bursting through the doors, she was hit with a sight she had prayed she would never see.<p>

There, standing atop a downed Zuko with her arms ablaze, was Azula.

She grinned a cackled maniacally; a sound which reminded Katara of a bloodbender she had encountered during her travels. In her mind's eye, it was not the calm, calculating Azula that stood above Zuko but instead the crazed and blood hungry witch, Hama.

"Oh, poor ZuZu." Azula said, her tone sickly sweet. "You were so big and brave when you had your Waterbending BITCH to back you up." She kicked him in the stomach, causing him to huddle up in pain.

"Now look at you." She reared back her arm which burst into flames. "I'll regret doing this." She thrust her fist downwards towards his heart.

"Almost."

* * *

><p>It all seemed to move in slow motion for Zuko. He saw his sister's mouth move and felt the impact of her foot in his already injured gut. His body huddled up as a reflex, even though he felt no pain. In his mind, he slowly counted down, anticipating the moment when Azula would strike.<p>

That would be when he would make his move.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Katara in the doorway and noticed that the rest of the soldiers had yet to see her. Still huddled up, he motioned with his hand towards a fountain in the corner of the room. Katara seemed to see it and silently bent a fair amount of the water around her body. Nodding silently to her, Zuko turned back to see Azula's flaming fist reared back, ready to strike. As her fist moved forward, Zuko took a deep breath and exhaled.

As the breath left his lungs, so did a great plume of fire.

The fire swept upwards, causing Azula to rear backwards. It did not burn but it gave Zuko the opening he needed and he kicked with both legs and knocked Azula onto her back.

"Katara, NOW!" He yelled, leaping to his feet. Katara divided the water into a dozen streams and slammed them into the enemy soldiers, stunning them. As the soldiers staggered on their feet, Sokka drew his war club and broke though the bodies holding him down, sprinting towards his sister. Zuko also broke into a run, quickly bending a wall of fire between him and the soldiers, as he headed for the door.

"Get on Appa and get out of here!" Zuko yelled to Katara and Sokka as he threw another wave of fire at the soldiers, slowing their advance.

"What about you?" Katara yelled over the din of the battle in the small throne room as she froze a few soldiers who had gotten too close.

"I still need to get Mai and Ty Lee out of the castle." Zuko replied, throwing the doors open.

"Now get out of here!" Katara didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed Sokka by the arm and yanked him out of the room back towards where Appa sat. Bursting out of the palace into the cool morning air, Katara and Sokka mounted the great sky bison and took off with a roar into the brightening sky.

* * *

><p>Ozai growled in anger as he broke free of the ice that held him.<p>

"On your feet!" He yelled to the Skybenders who were still dazed from the surprise attack. Ozai shook his head in annoyance and turned to Azula who was already halfway out of the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" He called to her, causing her to stop midstep.

"To find ZuZu of course." She replied, her tone steady, a stark contrast to her bout of insanity during her brief fight with Zuko.

"No, Azula, you will stay with me and finish this invasion. Do not let personal feelings take over!" At this, Azula's eye twitched and she glared back at Ozai.

"I will go where I please _father._" She hissed, her voice dripping with poison. "You are not in any position to order me around since the last time I checked, you couldn't even bend." Her last words caused Ozai to tense up in anger as he was reminded of his humiliation.

"Besides," Azula said, exiting the room. "Finding ZuZu before he has the chance to warn his allies will be more beneficial to us don't you think?" Azula asked, her tone seemingly mocking Ozai with every word. Her only response was a loud angry growl and the sound of furniture breaking.

"I'll take that as a yes." She said grinning.

Ozai exhaled heavily, collapsing on the charred and ruined throne. _After all that work, _he thought to himself as his fingers ran across the blackened surface of what was once gold, _I'm a powerless, old king, sitting on a throne that was burned by his own daughter. _Ozai chuckled bitterly and kicked a random piece of rubble on the ground.

Silence followed and Ozai was dozing off when a messenger hawk bearing the Thunder Nation seal flew in and perched on his shoulder. Retrieving the message from its container, Ozai's growled and nodded silently, rising from the throne and crumpling up the paper.

As the paper hit the floor, its simple message seemed to glare at the world and foreshadow horrible events to come. On the paper was this simple message.

_Liuwang reporting from Lei jin shi. _

_Invasion has begun._

_**Ah crap, I seem to have left y'all with a cliff hanger. But don't worry, as stated before, I'll try and update as best I can.**_

_**By the way, that's 2 chapters in one day. Frikkin' amazing huh?**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Yay! I'm back! Habitat was awesome and I'm really happy about the fact that I helped built a house for a poor family. Also, here's another chapter!**_

Toph's blind eyes stared out at the sprawling golden sea that was the city of Lei jin shi from the observatory atop the Grand Palace and she felt the gentle night breeze caress her pale face from an open window. Two weeks she'd been here. Here in this city of gold amongst a populace of the most powerful benders in the world. Running her hand along the bag that lay at her feet, she once again sighed sadly.

It was time to go.

Aang had mastered Skybending as fast as he had mastered all the other elements. As a matter of fact, the last few days of their stay in the City of Thunder was spent mostly enjoying themselves as Aang had already mastered the discipline by then and had easily rose to the same level as the King. Turning back towards the center of the observatory, she felt Erzi's footsteps ascending the stairs and entering the domed room. As he neared the center, Toph left from her position near the window and moved quickly to meet the prince. There were no words as the two benders silently approached each other, Erzi staring into the Toph's blind eyes with a sad smile on his face which went unnoticed.

"Can't believe you're leaving already." He said, his voice slightly betraying the sadness that lay beneath. Toph simply nodded in response..

"I'll be back before you know it, Stumpy." She said, smiling. She moved to pull him into a hug, something which would have been appreciated greatly by both parties, but instead took his hand firmly and shook it.

"I'll be counting on it. Now go back with the Avatar and save the universe or whatever." He said smiling sadly, pulling his hand out of her iron grip.

"I'll see you soon." Toph nodded and gave his hand one last squeeze before descending the stairs one final time.

It was very surprising, and regretful, how little Toph had acted upon her particular affection to the prince during her stay in the City of Thunder. Sure there was a secretive compliment paid to her when the others weren't looking and the many times Toph had "accidently" happened upon Erzi while he was practicing in the observatory at night meant something but overall, the two were still as different as day and night.

The sudden realization of this fact made Toph stop dead in her tracks. _Wait a minute, _Toph thought, bunching her fists and grinding her foot into the ground.

What was she thinking? Here she was, about to leave this magnificent city and its equally attractive prince for who knows how long and she hadn't even gotten a goodbye hug, much less asked for one like she yearned to. Turning on her heel, she breezed back down the hallway and back towards the stairs leading to the observatory, pushing past a very surprised Aang.

"Hey, Toph. What're you-" He started but was cut off as the Earthbender blew past him like a hurricane.

"Not now, Twinkle Toes." She growled and climbed the stairs, heading towards Erzi's familiar vibrations from the center of the room.

"Toph?" Erzi said, his eyebrows raised as she strode up to him.

Without a word, she grabbed his head and smashed her lips against his.

Erzi's eyes widened in surprise but he found himself wrapping his arms around Toph, eagerly returning the kiss. She responded in kind and ran her hands down his back, silently noticing the feeling of tension unwinding within him. Finally, the two broke for air and, panting, faced each other; Erzi's clear blue eyes staring into Toph's blind ones.

"I just wanted to say," Toph said finally, "I think you're pretty attractive." Erzi grinned at this and ran his hand through her dirty hair.

"You're not so bad yourself." He said, kissing her on the forehead.

For a while, the two simply stood in each other's arms, basking in the warmth of the rising sun. Eventually, the young benders ended up on the floor with Erzi sitting up cradling Toph's head in his lap.

"Now I'm REALLY gonna miss you." Erzi said, breaking the silence. Toph's only response was an uncharacteristic whimper, which caused Erzi to laugh.

"Please don't tell me the Great Toph Bei Fong just got soft because of some dashing prince." He said, grinning. Toph giggled back and slugged him lightly on the shoulder.

"I can still kick your butt anytime, Stumpy." She chuckled as Erzi nursed his injured shoulder. But her grin soon faltered as her mind digested Erzi's words.

"What's wrong?" Erzi said as he noticed Toph's cheerless expression.

"I just practically told you that I loved you." She said, avoiding Erzi's gaze. "and now I won't be seeing you for…" She trailed off, sniffling slightly.

"A long time." Erzi finished for her. He sat silently, thinking with his brow creased in concentration. Finally, he nodded to no-one in particular and stood up, taking Toph by the hand.

"C'mon." He said, leading her out of the observatory.

"Where're we going?" Erzi grinned and paused midstep, turning to her.

"Well I just can't let you go about saving the universe without me, can I?" He said, his grin broadening at her shocked expression.

"So come on. We're going to pack."

* * *

><p>The door to Erzi's room flew open and the two benders walked in. The room was painted a muted grey, a stark contrast to the gold that dominated Lei jin shi. As for the furnishings, Toph could sense that the room was very Spartan; with a single, large bed in the center and a few closets and drawers off to one side. She also sensed a variety of long, metallic objects on the wall beside her head.<p>

"What're those?" She asked, gesturing in their general direction.

"Oh, that's just my weapon rack." Erzi said, his head peeking out from one of the closets, a pair of leggings dangling casually from his head. "Forged and made in the Thunder Kingdom." Toph ran her hand along the wall and the cold steel of the various halberds, swords and spears tickled her fingertips. Suddenly, her hand was pulled away from the wall.

"They're also very sharp." Erzi said, holding her hand. Not letting go, he thrust the handle of a short sword into her pal. "Here, you should hold it like this." He let go of her hand and went back to rummaging in his closet while she stood holding the sword.

It was nothing short of beautiful. The hilt felt like stone but as Toph felt the weight of the sword, it was far too light. It was also intricately carved; with the pommel forming the head of what felt like a lion in mid roar and the edges of the handguard curving upwards onto the blade.

"Why the lion?" She thought aloud.

"Dunno." Erzi said, his voice echoed by the closet. "I've just always thought that the lion pretty much symbolizes the Skybenders. Loud, proud, wicked hair, also we've all got a great sense of belonging when we're with others of the same kind." He exited the closet with a neatly folded bundle of clothes. He had also fastened a leather vest over his royal tunic and had swapped his leather greaves for metal ones. Sensing the added weight to his movements, Toph shot him a questioning look.

"You're wearing armor?" She asked. "It's not like we're going to war or something." Erzi smiled wryly and laced up his greaves.

"To be perfectly honest," He said, finishing one leg and starting on the other. "I've got no idea what to expect once we get out of here."

"You mean you've never left Lei jin shi?" Toph asked her eyes wide in surprise. Erzi shrugged and grinned.

"Pretty much."

"You know the grass is blue under the mountain right?" Toph asked after a pause. Erzi chuckled and shook his head.

"I've seen pictures, you know." He said, standing up and checking his armor.

"Still," Toph replied as he walked over to his rack and began inspecting each finely crafted sword, spear and halberd. "Where I come from, the grass IS blue. And there's this island named after one of Aang's past lives that's got fish the size of houses."

"Alright, NOW you've got to be kidding." He chuckled, grabbing a war hammer from the rack and handing it to Toph. "Here."

"What's this?" Toph asked, grabbing what seemed like a long metal pole. However as her fingers made contact, she realized that it wasn't just some random spear. The staff that served as the handle was beautifully engraved with swirling patterns of leaves with a set of characters in the center of the staff.

"Never back down, even in the face of defeat." Toph said, reading out the inscription. Moving her hand further up the staff, she came upon the head of the hammer. Instead of a conventional hammer head, there was a highly detailed carving of a badgermole, its mouth frozen in a mighty roar.

"This was made by an Earthbender." Toph noted, feeling the heavy metal head of her first Earthbending teacher

"It was given to one of my ancestors when the Air Nomads still existed." Erzi said, feeling the war hammer. "It's been in my family for generations. Now I want you to have it." Toph's eyes widened in surprise.

"Erzi.." She began but was cut off as their hands, still on the hammer, and lips joined.

"Take it." Erzi said. "I've always had the feeling I'd give this back to its rightful owner." He softly kissed her forehead and let go of the war hammer.

"Couldn't ask for a better person to give it to."

One of Toph's hands left the hammer; despite it being twice her size she held it easily with one hand. She brought her free hand up and caressed the badgermole that served as the head.

"I like it."

Suddenly, the doors to Erzi's room burst open and a man in a metallic conical hat stepped in, light surrounding his hands. Toph reacted immediately and lunged at him with the war hammer but was swiftly tossed aside by a blast of light.

"TOPH!" Erzi yelled. He turned and faced the man, grabbing a random weapon from his rack and prepared to charge when the man threw off his hat.

"Hello, brother." Liuwang said, s wide grin on his face.

"Long time no see."

_**Grah, that's finally done. I stated this chapter at 10:00PM. It is now 1:08AM. I'm tired. I'm gonna go to sleep now.**_

_**BTW, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an awesome game and pretty much drove me to write the weapon heavy part of this chapter. Also, yay! Toph finally said it!**_

_**So as usual, R&R this chapter and I'll see y'all next time.**_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender._**

Erzi stood frozen on the spot; his mind separated from his body at the moment of realization.

"Surprised, brother?" Liuwang said with a grin. He took a step forward and towered over Erzi, his tall, muscular frame almost eclipsing Erzi's lithe body. There was a loud clatter as the weapon Erzi had readied fell to the floor.

"Oh don't act so shocked." Liuwang scoffed, cuffing Erzi over the back of his head. "It was so inevitable that I was going to return and take this kingdom under my name." He strode around Erzi and placed his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders, pressing hard. Instantly, Erzi's mind rushed back into its body but his limbs did not respond. His eyes widened in shock and he tried to yell, but all that came out was a strangled gasp.

"It was 10 years, was it not? Was that the amount of time I've been gone? I've learned a multitude of things in that time. Like how to control your limbs for example." He slid his left arm down Erzi's back and thrust his fingers into a pressure point at the base of his spine. Immediately, Erzi's knees went weak and he collapsed on the floor in a crumpled heap. Instinctively, he formed a fist and tried to call the thunder around him into his hand but instead of the warm, powerful embrace of thunder, he only felt the slightly hot air of the castle. Liuwang grinned sadistically as Erzi's expression turned fearful.

"What's the matter, little brother? Can't bend? Oh, that's right; I cut off your bending. No more calling upon the divine light to save you in this time of darkness." He said, his voice growing louder and louder. Behind him, Toph slowly began to regain consciousness. She quietly rose to her feet, never taking her eyes off Liuwang's head. Very slowly, she grasped the war hammer by her side.

"It's a shame really; I'll take over this kingdom in a matter of days with the state fathers "army" is in. There really is no real challenge. It's almost like stealing a fruit from a paralyzed lemur." He reached down and pulled off his vest with a rough tug. As Erzi's arms came up to protest, Liuwang casually slammed his foot into Erzi's face.

From behind him, Toph winced as she heard the sickening crack of Liuwang's boot hurtling into Erzi's face but grasped the war hammer tighter, mentally blocking out the sound of Erzi's pained breathing.

"Look at this," Liuwang said, standing up straight and sneering at Erzi's bloody face. "The great Prince of Thunder, bloody, pathetic and curled up on the floor. You know who you remind me of? Our father." Liuwang raised his fists and brought them slowly apart, lightning curling delicately around his arms.

"I hated our father."

He struck.

Toph sobbed silently as Erzi's screams filled the room. His body convulsed as lightning tore through his veins and burned his body. Liuwang's lightning wasn't powerful enough to kill him outright, but it kept in throes of agony as it burned a passage through his body. As Toph inched closer to the two, Liuwang moved in closer to Erzi and increased the power of his lightning, laughing sadistically as his little brother's screams increased. Toph gripped the war hammer even tighter, her knuckles white. All she needed now was an opening. She just needed Liuwang to open his defenses and she could end Erzi's pain. Suddenly, the barrage stopped and Liuwang lowered his hands and exhaled.

"That felt good." He laughed. "Unfortunately, Fire Lord Ozai wants you alive so I won't be able to test out my new skills. No matter, you'll certainly get what's coming to you." He leaned in close to Erzi's ear.

"He's going to take away your bending." Liuwang whispered sadistically.

This was Toph's opening. She charged, swinging the war hammer with a loud cry. As she swung, the stone foundation of the room burst forth through the floor and shot towards Liuwang, seemingly moving with Toph's swing. The stone wave slammed into his chest and sent him flying through the wall where he landed with a groan. Toph immediately let the war hammer fall to the ground with a loud thud and stood gaping at what she had just accomplished.

"The hammer…" Erzi groaned from the floor. Toph crouched down to him and examined his injuries. With her heightened sense on hearing acting as a primitive sonar, she saw that his jaw was cracked and his torso was singed, the smell of burning flesh confirming her suspicions.

"Don't talk." She said and hoisted him to his feet. His armor was surprisingly light but then again, most of it was burned off.

"The hammer…" Erzi said again, his voice barely above a croak. He grabbed Toph's hand and moved it towards the war hammer which lay on the floor.

"Made…for Earthbenders." As Toph grabbed the metallic stem of the hammer, the wall beside her exploded with a thunderous roar and Liuwang stepped back into the room. He immediately fired a bolt of lightning with his right hand Toph. As she bent a tone wall to block it, he hurled another with his left and again with his right. Toph tried her hardest but the constant barrage quickly breached her defenses and she fell back as her stone wall exploded in a shower of burnt rock. As she hit the ground, Toph instinctively swung the war hammer in an upward crescent at Liuwang. He easily dodged the strike but was knocked backwards by the pillar of stone that followed. As he hit the ground in a crumpled heap, Toph rose to her feet, her mouth open in surprise.

"Toph!" Erzi yelled, slowly rising to his feet. "The hammer was made for Earthbenders. It makes them _stronger!"_ As his words reached her ears, so did the sound of Liuwang angry growl as he rose to his feet; lightning curled around his arms. Toph fell into a bending stance but instead of raising her arms to reinforce her defense, she rose the war hammer; its head pointed at Liuwang. She took a step back then lunged forwards, slamming her foot into the ground as she did so and thrusting the war hammer at Liuwang. At her command, a great slab of stone rose from the ground and hurtled towards him. Liuwang's eyes opened in surprise and he raised his leg and brought it down in a crescent kick, sending an arch of lightning towards Toph. The stone and the lightning collided, throwing dust and burning rock around the room. Liuwang yelled and covered his face as fine chunks of dust struck his eyes and impaired his vision.

But Toph didn't need eyes to see.

As her opponent was blinded, Toph swung the war hammer and sent a pillar of rock into Liuwang's chest, stunning him. As he stood dazed, Toph leapt at him, swinging the war hammer as she went. But instead of calling upon her bending, she simply let her own might guide the hammer's head as it collided with Liuwang's torso, cracking his armor and sending him flying into the far side of the room where he fell into an unconscious heap. As the dust cleared, Toph stood still, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, a hand fell on her shoulder and she jerked in surprise. She spun her head around and prepared to swing the war hammer but was stopped when her hand was placed on the familiar yet injured face of Erzi.

"Just me." He said. "Come on. Let's get out of here. I've got a feeling Liuwang wasn't alone." Toph nodded and Let Erzi take her hand and lead her out of the room.

The two moved quickly through the halls and upwards to the observatory.

"If Liuwang got in this easily, he must've come from the sky. The kingdom is just too high up to climb."

"Then how did he get that high? The only thing that we had that was able to reach this height was Appa, and there's no way Liuwang could get to him." Erzi shrugged as they approached the observatory.

"Right now we've got to find out if there are any more invaders…" He stopped with a groan and bent over clutching his ribs.

"What's wrong?" Toph said with concern and bent down to his level, placing a hand on his back. He shrugged off her hand and righted himself with noticeable strain.

"I'll be fine." The two entered the domed room.

"Alright, find any fractures, cracks, anything that Liuwang could have used to get in…" He trailed off.

"Erzi?" Toph said. There was no answer. She could sense that he was looking upwards.

"What's wrong?" There was no answer.

"Toph," Erzi finally spoke. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Above them, the sky darkened as war balloons filled the air.

**_Whew, that was the first action sequence I've ever seriously wrote. To really be able to write one of these things, I'd guess you'd have to have some kind of martial arts experience, something which I don't have unless you count my many hours logged in Mortal Kombat.  
>Anyway, review this chapter for a faster update and please tell me how I did. Thanks! <em>**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**_

_**Also, happy belated 4**__**th**__** of July to all my American readers! We don't have an independence day here in Thailand but I shot off a few fireworks for you guys anyway ;)**_

The two benders charged down the stairs of the observatory and through the halls of the Grand Palace on a stone platform, hellbent on the entrance. Toph swung the war hammer with one hand, summoning stone spikes from the very foundation of the palace and knocking Fire Nation soldiers of their feet. With her other hand, she propelled the platform with great speed, plowing through objects and soldiers alike. To her left, Erzi did what he could with his injuries. The kick he had received to his face had caused one of his eyes to swell shut and his singed skin restricted his movements. Still, he bent the light around him with a practiced ease and easily struck down trained Fire benders with little effort.

"Careful!" Toph yelled over the din as Erzi knocked down a soldier whose cries were drowned out by the roar of thunder that followed the beam of light hitting him square in the chest.

"What?" Erzi yelled back, charging up another shot.

"Those soldiers are Fire Nation. They're technically still our allies."

"Our's?" Erzi called back. "You're not the one having your house burned down by them!" He fired another round of bolts at a few soldiers who got too close.

Toph groaned in frustration as she knocked another dozen soldiers off their feet with a quickly summoned stone wall. Erzi was right though, why would the Fire Nation attack another nation with no reason at all? There was no way that Zuko had ordered the attack; he knew that Aang would be here.

Suddenly, she remembered Liuwang's words to Erzi during their brief confrontation.

_Fire Lord Ozai wants you alive._

_Fire Lord Ozai._

_Ozai._

"Oh no." Toph said as she realized who was heading the attack. "ERZI!" She yelled to her left, speeding up the platform's movement.

"We have to get out of here now!"

"Yeah, I kinda got the impression."

"No!" Toph groaned, shaking her head in frustration. "We have to get out of here and back to the Fire Nation. I think Fire Lord Ozai is the one behind this attack!"

"You mean the guy who wanted to take my bending or whatever?"

"Exactly!" Toph yelled as they finally burst through the gates of the grand palace. Erzi squinted as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. Suddenly, he felt an intense heat close by. Still blinded by the sunlight he turned around, light swirling around his arms, prepared to strike down any pursuers. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Erzi's eyes went wide and he collapsed to his knees.

The once beautiful palace now lay in flames as the entire Fire Nation air force descended upon it. Soldiers, both benders of thunder and fire rappelled down from their airships and incinerated anything in their path as they touched the ground like a storm of pure destruction. As Erzi's teary eyes traveled up the great flaming spires of the palace, the observatory exploded in a shower of glass and stone as a great beam of light struck it, followed by a roar of thunder that shook the very foundations of the mountain.

For a long moment, Erzi was still.

"Erzi?" Toph said cautiously as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn't respond and his eyes remained transfixed on the flaming towers and spires that once served as his home.

"Are you alright?" Toph asked, her voice firmer this time. Erzi finally rose with a heavy sigh and shrugged of her hand.

"I'm okay." He said, his voice shaking. "I'm okay. I'm okay, I'm oh…ARGH!" He yelled suddenly, causing Toph to recoil in surprise.

"YOU BASTARDS!" He cried, hurling futile bolts of light at the airships. "YOU BURNED IT ALL! THIS WAS MY HOME! YOU DESTROYED MY HOME!"

"Erzi…" Toph began but was cut off as the gates exploded and a group of Skybenders lead by a furious Liuwang emerged. The explosion caught Erzi's attention and he turned to Liuwang, his eyes wide in fury.

"You…" He said, his voice wild and hoarse."

"Like it?" Liuwang smirked, grinning sadistically. "I think it's much faster that redecorating." To illustrate his point, he fired a bolt of lightning at a statue of the king which stood at the entrance.

"You…" Erzi stammered, his body shaking with rage, light slowly encircling his limbs.

"I'LL KILL YOU!_** I'LL KILL YOU ALL!**_" He screamed, charging headlong into Liuwang, light humming at his fingertips, tears falling from his eyes.

As he charged, he felt all the accumulated rage of the day erupt within him. He remembered the beating Liuwang had given him. The hot air that whipped past his face reminded him of the utter destruction of his home and everything he loved and in the distance, he heard the screams of his people suffering under the hands of the Fire Nation.

This was it.

He was going to kill Liuwang.

However, as he came within a stone's throw of his enemy, Erzi stopped dead as a bolt of lightning struck him square in the chest and tore through his heart.

For a moment, everything was still as the crackle of lightning hung in the air. Then, Erzi let out a strangled cry as he fell to his knees, a burning hole smoking on his chest.

"ERZI!" Toph screamed as she felt his heartbeat slow and fade. She sprinted over to him, war hammer at the ready. However, she crashed into a solid wall of light erected by the benders at Liuwang's side and fell backwards, crashing to the floor. Stunned but not defeated, she leapt back to her feet and swung her war hammer at the wall but again was met with solid resistance.

Undeterred, Toph summoned multiple pillars of stone and launched them at the wall with mighty swings of her war hammer. The pillars slammed into the wall all at once with a thunderous rumble but as the dust cloud cleared, Toph saw with dismay that the wall still stood strong. Helpless, she could only watch as Liuwang planted a foot firmly on Erzi's chest and pushed him to the ground.

"You know, brother, some small part of me regrets this." Liuwang said as the benders beside him formed a circle around Erzi's body. He knelt down beside the lifeless prince and ran a hand over his face, down to his chest and stopped at his stomach.

"Oh, yes." Liuwang grinned. "There is thunder in this one."

Pausing in his ministrations, he turned his head to Top and grinned.

"So you're the great Toph Bei Fong. The Blind Bandit, master Earthbender of Goa Ling." Liuwang waved a hand and the wall of light disappeared. He stuck out his hand to Toph.

"Pleasure to meet you." Toph screamed in anger and charged at Liuwang, summoning a pillar of spiked stone as she did. With a swing of her war hammer, she launched it at him.

But Toph's senses were dulled by hatred and Liuwang easily destroyed the pillar and stepped in between Toph's legs, breaking her stance. In a flash, his hand was around Toph's throat and squeezing. She let out a gasp and tried to move her arms but his fingers were pressed on one of her pressure points.

"I'm going to enjoy you after I'm done with Erzi." He chuckled, running a finger along her face.

"Sir." One of the benders said from behind him. Liuwang glanced at the man and nodded.

"Until next time." He said turning back to Toph and smiling. He casually dropped her on the ground were she tried once again to move but found that her efforts were futile.

"Now then," Liuwang said, kneeling inside the circle his benders had formed, "Let us begin."

The benders began to chant some arcane prayer and linked hands as they're eyes began to glow. They began to hover slightly and so did Erzi's body as the chanting intensified. Soon, Liuwang joined in and placed a hand on the body's head.

As he slowly drew it back, Toph saw, despite her blindness, the colored silhouette of Erzi's soul leaving his body.

It was horrifying and mesmerizing at the same time. Instead of having her mind paint a metal image for her, Toph saw, really saw, Erzi, featureless and with a collidescope of colors for skin. He slowly rose from his body and lay suspended in the air.

The benders then raised their arms and brought them down one by one. As they did so. Small, thin beams of light sprung from their fingertips and slowly wrapped around Erzi's soul.

The beams quickly thickened until they formed a single layer of light that conformed to Erzi's shape and began to engulf him. The layer creeped up his legs, turning their ever shifting color into a bright white. It then moved up to his waist and took hold of his torso.

As the light neared his neck, Liuwang felt his heart begin to beat faster in anticipation of the final act.

"Soon." He said, his voice barely above a whisper and his eyes wide in excitement. "Your soul will be mine and the Lei Sheng bloodline will be no more…" He trailed off as an explosion sounded above him. His eyes shot up and he immediately summoned a shield of light as a great wave of fire came down upon him.

"Finish it!" He yelled to the benders around him. The chanting became faster and more urgent and yet another plume of fire crashed down upon the barrier of light. The layer of light around Erzi began to move faster and quickly engulfed him.

But something was wrong.

As his head turned a bright white, the layer crackled and small fractures began to form in the layer around Erzi's soul.

"Commander!" One of the benders yelled as flakes of light started falling off of Erzi's soul. "The ritual has become compromised! If we go on-"

"Do we have his bending!" Liuwang interrupted, momentarily opening the barrier and firing a dozen bolts of lightning in quick succession at the source of the fire. He quickly sealed it shut as a great wind slammed into it.

"Sir, yes sir!"

"THEN FINISH IT!" Liuwang cried as a small figure crashed into the ground beside the small circle and began to attack the barrier with combined strikes of air, earth and fire. His eyes widened in fear as small cracks began to spider web along the barrier and the smell of flaming earth reached his senses.

"Cut it off NOW!" He yelled, feeling the barrier shatter before him. The benders abruptly dropped their hands and Liuwang stood and spread his arms. As if drawn to him, Erzi's soul rushed towards Liuwang's body and he grinned.

"Come on, come on." He muttered as the white, crackling silhouette of his brother moved towards him.

_Soon._ He thought to himself. Erzi's soul was so close that he could reach out and touch it. Soon Erzi soul would be within him. Then, he could destroy whoever was attacking his barrier, hop back on an airship, be back to the Fire Nation within a day and plan the next stages of his takeover.

_Too easy._ He thought with a grin. As Erzi's feet approached his chest, the layer around his torso suddenly exploded in a brilliant burst of light.

"NO!" Liuwang cried as the soul of his brother and his hopes of domination began to fall to the ground. Instinctively, he reached out to grab the descending soul but felt nothing as his hands closed around Erzi's legs.

The top half of Erzi's soul made contact with its vessel which began to stir.

"**NO!**" Liuwang yelled at the top of his lungs as the soul's legs re-entered Erzi's body. In a desperate move, Liuwang hastily began to chant the same arcane words that had been used to extract Erzi's soul. It seemed to work and his eyes brightened in hope as the white silhouette of Erzi's torso once again began to exit his body.

Suddenly, everything stopped.

Liuwang's eyes flared in rage as he saw that Erzi was also chanting his own incantation.

What followed was a tug of war for Erzi's very soul as the two brothers fought for spiritual dominance. However, Liuwang proved to be the victor and the white silhouette of Erzi's torso was ripped free from his body and absorbed into Liuwang's.

And then it was all over.

_**And that's Chapter 12. Well, do you hate Liuwang yet? Did you also notice that this chapter was longer than usual? Well, its summer now so I'll have time to make them as long as I want without having to worry about things like homework or a social life :P.**_

_**See ya!**_

**_[EDIT]  
>Quick announcement, guys. To commemorate the fact that this story has broken the record for amount of reviews, number of words AND number of chapters out of all my previous stories, I, wait for it, have made the city of Lei jin shi in Minecraft! By using the link below, you will be able to walk the streets of the kingdom of thunder and see all the wonderful sights in glorious 8-bit! Keep in mind though that this was made before I wrote the story so there are a few extra buildings. <em>**

**_www(dot)fileserve(dot)com/file/MBcYAcU_**

**_Also if you want to beef up the place or make any modifications, there's a treasure trove of building materials on the beach at the bottom of the golden stairs._**

**_Enjoy!_**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Apologies for this slow update. I've just been enjoying the shit out of my summer :p**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**_

Liuwang let out a triumphant yell as he absorbed Erzi's soul along with his bending.

He was done.

Now, the kingdom that his father founded would surely fall, just like the old man had at his hands.

Giving his brother's body one last kick, he stood up straight and flexed his arms, his body adjusting to the essence of another person within him.

"Get ready to attack." He said, lowering the shield. "There's someone out there waiting for us, and they're not happy." His men nodded at the order and drew their staffs; light encircling their bodies.

Liuwang turned away from his men and spread his arms. In his mind, he slowly counted down from three in preparation for what was to be a sudden and devastating attack.

_Three…_

He felt his muscles tense, as if he were a cobra preparing to strike.

_Two…_

He felt the roar of thunder within him as energy surged to his fingertips, lighting up his veins and his eyes as it went.

_One…_

He struck.

Liuwang dropped the barrier and unleashed a torrent of attacks in the blink of an eye, seemingly striking every angle. His benders attacked with him, slicing the air with their staffs and firing of blades of pure light in every direction throwing up a large cloud of dust as they did so. Seeing this, Liuwang threw up his arms and yelled, halting the attack.

"We're blinding ourselves!" He yelled as the attacks ceased. Coughing from the dust, he searched through the cloud for any sign of his attacker. Motioning with his hands and hoping his men saw the signal; he broke free from the circle and walked through the cloud. Liuwang squinted his eyes attempting to see through the thick, dusty cloud.

Suddenly there was a yell of surprise from behind him that was quickly silenced and Liuwang's eyes went wide as he recognized it as one of his men. The yell was quickly followed by another then a few more as his men were taken out one by one. Finally, the sounds stopped and he froze in fear as he realized that his entire team had been wiped out in a matter of seconds.

"Show yourself!" He yelled into the cloud, his eyes wide with fear and anger. His request was answered as the powerful gust of wind blew away the cloud and Liuwang into a large wall of rubble. Yelling in surprise, Liuwang instinctively closed his eyes as he was taken of his feet and crashed into the wall with a yelp of pain. Groaning, he opened his eyes and looked up at his attacker. As his vision focused, he saw a sight that made his blood run cold in fear.

There, before him, was Aang; his tattoos and eyes alight.

Liuwang moved to attack but was quickly encased in a cocoon of earth by a swift movement of Aang's hand. As the young avatar approached him, Toph appeared at Liuwang's side with her war hammer raised.

"You have committed heinous acts against the people of the Thunder Kingdom!" Aang yelled, the voices of all his past lives entwining with his own. "You have killed thousands of innocent people, robbed a boy of his soul!" Aang moved in closer to Liuwang's face and sneered.

"And you destroyed my home." He hissed. This statement drove fear even deeper into Liuwang's heart as he realized that the person speaking to him was not the fair and just avatar. It was a boy whose homeland he had just destroyed.

And he was out for revenge.

"Please, spare me!" Liuwang pleaded as his sense of pride was replaced with crippling fear. "In only did what Fire Lord Ozai commanded me to! I was under orders!"

"Orders!" Toph screeched from beside him and bent the earth encased around Liuwang's face, twisting his head towards her. "_Ex _Fire Lord Ozai doesn't have an ounce of bending in him! You really expect us to believe that he has _any _control over you?" She yelled, raising her war hammer as anger tore through her veins.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" She screamed, bringing the hammer down. However, the metal badger mole head of the hammer never met with Liuwang as it was stopped dead in its tracks by Aang who by now had come out of the avatar state.

"No, Toph." He said, moving her hammer away from its target with a gust of wind. "We're no killing anyone now. Too many lives have already been lost today."

"You can't be serious!" Toph yelled in disbelief, dropping the hammer. "Aang, your home was just destroyed a second time! You can't possibly be thinking of letting this…_bastard_ live!" Aang sighed and shook his head.

"No, Toph." He repeated, reluctantly. "This isn't how I'm going to end this."

"He killed Erzi!" Toph yelled back. "It's a life for a life, Aang." She grabbed the war hammer and raised it.

"Yes, and he can bring him back to life!" Aang argued, standing firm. "Erzi isn't _dead._ His soul is just out of his body and Liuwang can return it." Aang raised his hands, palms opened.

"Now put the hammer down."

Toph gripped the hammer even tighter as her arms resisted the urge to bring it down and end Liuwang's wicked life once and for all. However, Aang's words had reached her and, like it or not, she knew she had to spare Liuwang in order to save Erzi.

With a frustrated yell, Toph let the hammer fall to the ground with a loud crash.

"Do it." She murmured reluctantly. Aang nodded and knelt down to Liuwang's level.

"Return his soul." He said but was met with Liuwang's frightened expression. "Return it!" He ordered but Liuwang still didn't comply. Realizing this tactic would not work, Aang rose to his feet and picked up the discarded war hammer. Turning to Toph, he thrust it into her hands and raised her arms. Getting the idea, Toph gripped the hammer under her own strength and kept it above Liuwang's head.

"Either you return his soul or I let Toph give you what you deserve." Aang threatened, kneeling down next to Liuwang. "Trust me when I say, you don't want that." Liuwang's eyes darted fearfully between Toph and the body of his brother as his mind reeled through his options. On one hand, he could chance breaking free of the earth that confined him but then he'd be facing a furious earthbending and the avatar himself; odds which were impossible. On the other hand, he could simply distract the two benders while feigning the ritual, thus allowing him to safely escape.

"Alright, alright." Liuwang finally said, smiling a little at his own genius. "Release me and I will return Erzi's soul to his body."

Aang nodded and, cautiously, opened the earth cocoon, letting Liuwang out. As soon as he was on his feet, the two benders snapped into their respective stances. Liuwang ignored them and moved towards Erzi's body, his expression unreadable. Kneeling down next to it, he placed a hand above Erzi's chest and one on his own and began to chant the same incantation he had when the ritual was first performed, changing phrases and mispronouncing words in order to make it useless. As he neared the end, Liuwang went through his plan mentally and charged a small bolt of lightning.

First of all, the bolt would travel through Erzi's body, making it jump and give the illusion that he was alive. This would then cause the two benders behind him to drop their defenses and rush to his side, allowing Liuwang to stun them and make his escape.

Chuckling inwardly at the genius of his plan, he lowered his palm onto Erzi's chest and pressed on it.

"Looks like you'll be useful to me after all, bother." Liuwang whispered. "Now let's get ready for your final act…" He trailed off and his eyes went wide.

"No…" He whispered harshly and pressed his hand even further into Erzi's chest just to make sure.

_Tha-thump_

"No…" Liuwang repeated. He pressed down harder, no longer searching for that heartbeat but now attempting to keep it quelled from the two benders behind him.

Without thinking, he released the lightning that was charging within him.

The bolt surged through Erzi's body, making it shake with the charge and Liuwang felt the heartbeat cease. Realizing what he had done, Liuwang stood up and turned to Toph and Aang, grinning triumphantly.

"You see? He's alive!" He laughed, his hands behind his back, already preparing another charge. "Now, I'd like to discuss the terms of my release…ARGH!" Liuwang yelled suddenly as he felt something pierce his leg. Looking down, he gasped in surprise and fear as his eyes bore witness to the sight of Erzi's hand on a silver dagger that was thrust deep into his leg.

"You… killed me…" Erzi panted, clutching his chest.

"Now…I'm gonna kill you."

_**Hey, lookit! Erzi ain't dead! Well, they say hatred keeps the heart strong and this is most certainly the case for our young Skybender.**_

_**So, please review. I'm not asking for much though, this isn't a review costly story since I'm writing for fun but a nice word here and a suggestion there goes a long way.**_

_**Bye for now :D**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**I haven't been updating for a while and there is a reason for that. Please check my profile.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**_

_**[EDIT]  
>I took the liberty off beefing up the contents of this chapter a bit. Enjoy!<strong>_

Erzi stood slowly without trouble as Liuwang was still too shocked to move. He breathed deeply, his heart beating twice it's normal speed as the aftershocks of Liuwang's lightning coursed through his body. With a fierce tug, Erzi tore the dagger from Liuwang's leg causing the Skybender to scream in pain.

"You tried to kill me." Erzi growled, one hand tightly clutching the bloody dagger, the other holding his side.

"You tried to steal my soul!" He began to stride towards his brother with heavy footsteps as life began to bloom within him once again.

"For this, I will kill you."

Erzi now stood tall and proud, his brother's face a mask of pure fear at the sight of his once dead brother. Erzi shifted into a flawless bending form, his injured leg no longer a factor and he swept it along the ground, gathering all the thunder he could muster for one strike.

The strike that would end Liuwang once and for all.

Erzi froze in his stance, arms tight by his sides with one leg bent forward and one stretched behind him. Tensing his muscles, Erzi pushed with all his strength and sprung to his feet, thrusting his fist at Liuwang's face, closing his eyes to shield them from the intense amount of light that would spring from his fists and strike down his brother.

As Erzi's fist flew towards him, Liuwang's fearful expression slowly gave way to a victorious grin as he moved his own hand forward and effortlessly grabbed Erzi's fist.

Erzi's eyes burst open and his mouth slowly opened in fear and Liuwang's grip tightened.

"Don't you remember little brother? I took your bending." Liuwang grinned and twisted Erzi's arm into a painful lock. "Whatever small, tiny proportion of a soul you have left in you that's keeping you alive will grant you no bending." He then held a hand sparking with raw lightning to Erzi's face.

"And it will soon be mine."

Liuwang grasped Erzi's chest with his hand which was alive with lightning and allowed the lightning to spring from his palm and enter Erzi's chest whose eyes slammed shut and breath went short as he anticipated the searing burn.

But the burn never came and Erzi felt himself being blown through the air on a breeze. Slowly, he opened his eyes and instead of Liuwang's scarred face above him, he saw the war balloon dotted sky and instead of the pressure of Liuwang's hand on his chest, Erzi felt the soothing caress of the cool mountain air. He turned his head to his side, his skull suddenly feeling heavy and his eyelids beginning to close as his heart slowed back down to normal and his breathing became deep and slow.

Erzi exhaled and closed his eyes.

Aang dodged another bolt of lightning and countered with a volley of fire balls which were swiftly blow out of the air by a blade of light courtesy of Liuwang. As his hand came back towards his body, recovering from the attack, Liuwang brought both his arms up and summoned a wall of light, stopping a pillar of earth that was thrown at him from Toph. With one hand keeping the wall erected, Liuwang punched forward with his other hand and sent a fist of pure light flying at Aang, who fell into a Skybending stance of his own, pushing to open palms forward and causing the fist to explode into a shower of bright sparks. Falling back into a Firebending stance, Aang performed a quick series of jabs, launching multiple fireballs at Liuwang which were once again blown out of the air.

"Give up now, Avatar." Liuwang grinned as he focused his power on the wall against Toph's attacks. "You must realize that you cannot possibly beat me." With that, Liuwang turned to his wall and pushed it forward, sending it flying at Toph who barley had enough time to leap out of its way. With her out of the fight, Liuwang directed his attention to the young Avatar who was already preparing another attack.

Grinning at the challenge, Liuwang charged.

Aang saw him coming with hands full of lightning and instinctively attempted to hurl him off his feet with a gust of wind. Unfortunately, Liuwang had predicted this move and leapt high into the air. Successfully dodging Aang's attack, he then proceeded to release the lightning in his hands which streaked downwards towards the Avatar.

Aang's eyes widened in fear and he threw up a stone barrier from the ground. However, it was futile as the lightning easily tore the barrier apart, causing it to implode and causing Aang to be thrown sharply backwards by the strength of the blast. He landed with a loud thud and the impact tore the breath from his lungs. He attempted to stand up but Liuwang spared him no rest as he rushed forwards and seized the Avatar's neck in his hands, hitting the same pressure points as he did with Toph, blocking the flow of Chi to his limbs. Aang attempted to struggle but it was futile as only his head and face were able to move.

"This is the end, Avatar." Liuwang said. However, the usual grin was gone and was replaced by a look of pure determination.

He meant every word.

Liuwang's finger's tightened around Aang's neck and the Avatar began to choke. As the Skybender's grip grew stronger and Aang's struggling began to lessen, a great rumbling came from behind. Liuwang momentarily slackened his grip and turned to face the noise. As the source of the noise was revealed to him, Liuwang's body froze in fear.

Behind him was a great earth platform afloat in the air with multiple spiked pillars of stone surrounding it; all of which were pointed at him.

Atop the platform stood Toph, war hammer in hand.

"Let go of him." She said through gritted teeth. Liuwang simply stared, his body still frozen in sheer terror of the sight before him.

"LET GO OF HIM!" Toph yelled, allowing her anger to flow with her voice like a torrent of water. "Let go of him of I'll kill you!"

The threat seemed to snap Liuwang out of his daze and he wrapped an arm around Aang's neck while summoning lightning to the other.

"Kill me?" Liuwang laughed. "What would you know of killing Toph bei Fong? Born to lavish trappings, raised by aristocrats, what do you know of killing, _little girl_?" He sneered.

In reply, Toph swung the hammer.

Immediately, the pillars of stone shot towards him. Instinctively, he threw Aang to his side and used both of his hands to slice the air, sending blades of light towards the pillars. But there were simply too many and soon Liuwang was buried under a mound of stone. He struggled to get free but the crushing weight of the stone halted any attempts of escape and Liuwang was trapped.

Seeing that her opponent was trapped, Toph brought the platform down to the ground and hopped off, sprinting towards Aang. As she neared him, Aang suddenly sprung to his feet, once again in control of his body.

"Get Erzi!" He yelled and turned back towards Liuwang. Raising his arms, he thickened the earth around the Skybender, further entrapping him. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere soon, Aang joined Toph at Erzi's side.

"How's he doing?" He asked worriedly. Toph put a hand on Erzi's chest and a smile tugged at her lips.

"His heart's beating strong." She said softly, a stark comparison to her earlier outburst. "But he's hurt bad." Her voice darkened at this and she ran her hand over Erzi's face. "We need to get out of here."

"No…" Erzi said barely above a whisper. Toph and Aang immediately came closer to his face, listening for his next words.

"Save…home…must…fight." Erzi attempted to sit up but was immediately pushed down by Toph.

"You're not going anywhere!" She growled but Erzi pushed back.

"Lei jin shi is under attack!" He yelled, attempting to push past Toph's steel like arm that was pushing him down.

"I have to defend my home!"

"You'll die fighting, Erzi!" Toph yelled, grabbing Erzi's shoulders and forcing him down. "Go with us! We'll come back and save your home!"

"There won't be _anything_left if we go now!" Erzi argued and thrust his own hands upon Toph's arms. "Let me save my home. Or at least die with it. "

There was a long pause and the only things to be heard were explosions in the distance. Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud crack as Toph slapped Erzi hard on his face.

"You are NOT dying here!" She screamed as Erzi nursed an injured cheek that bore a bright red handprint, his eyes wide in shock.

"Erzi de lei Sheng, you are going to get your sorry BUTT off of the ground RIGHT NOW! Or so help me, I will drag you off this mountain MYSELF! If you think that you can JUST SIT HERE, you've got another thing-" But Toph was stopped dead in her tracks as Erzi pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his head on her shoulder.

"Thank you." He whispered and let go.

"Wha-" Toph began but was cut off as Erzi plowed on ahead.

"I don't know where I am right now." He said, staring into the distance at the hundreds of war balloons that surrounded the city-_his city_-and the once beautiful spires, now burning husks of their former selves.

"I was ready to go into that mess, with no bending and likely get myself killed. What was I _thinking? _I'm so _stupid."_ Erzi closed his eyes and turned away from the destruction of his home, unable to witness anymore.

"I was willing to _die,_ without even a thought of the consequences of my actions. My father would hate me if he knew what I was going to do."

"Erzi," Toph said softly and put a hand on his shoulder. "Your father will be proud when he hears of this. You've got nothing to fear."

Erzi opened his eyes and Toph's face filled his vision, taking his mind away from the burning city in front of him. Instead of the crumbled buildings and fallen spires, Erzi's mind was instead filled with the pale face framed with a mop of shaggy hair that he was infatuated with. Instantly, Erzi was put at ease. Taking the hand that rested on his shoulder in his own, he pulled Toph into another embrace.

"Okay." He said. "I'll go wherever you go."

Toph smiled at his answer and returned his hug.

"Your _father?" _Liuwang yelled, breaking the serenity of their embrace.

"I killed your father Erzi! He died before me, on his knees and pleading for his life like the pig he is!"

Erzi's breath hitched in his throat and his entire body went stiff. Slowly he turned his head to Liuwang, who grinned sadistically, despite the crushing weight of the earth on top of him.

"You…_scum." _Erzi hissed, picking up the discarded dagger still stained with Liuwang's blood and striding towards him.

"Have you no compassion? Have you no remorse? Have you no _**dignity!**_" Erzi yelled and threw his fist into Liuwang's face. His brother simply glared at him and spat blood onto the floor.

"That's right Erzi! Avenge your father. Kill me." Liuwang chuckled and lifted his head, offering his neck to Erzi's blade.

"Spill my blood, Prince of Thunder and avenge your father."

Erzi raised the dagger and prepared to strike, the sounds of Toph and Aang's protests drowned out by his rage. Suddenly, Toph's face flashed before his eyes and his rage began to subside.

Slowly. Very slowly, Erzi's fingers uncurled from the hilt of the dagger and he dropped it to the ground.

"What are you doing!" Liuwang yelled. "Finish me!" His yells fell on deaf ears as Erzi turned and walked back towards Aang and Toph.

"Avenge your father you _coward!"_ Liuwang cried fruitlessly as Erzi was embraced by his friends.

"I'll avenge him." Erzi called back, his voice calm and even.

"C'mon. Lets go." He said, turning back to Toph who grinned at his response and grabbed his arm as Erzi used her for support.

"Where to?" She asked as they walked away from the destruction of the court yard. Erzi looked up at the many war balloons that dotted the sky and pointed at one that seemed to be at the rear of the troop.

"That one." He glanced over to Aang who nodded and prepared to lift them off the ground when Liuwang's voice interrupted them.

"You'll regret this Erzi! Kill me now or you'll never avenge your father!"

Erzi turned back one last time and gave a look that Liuwang thought no one was capable of. It was a look of pure determination, as if the next words out of Erzi's mouth would set the fate of the rest of the living world.

"I won't stoop to your level, brother. I'll never kill a man who's defenseless." He said, staring deep into Liuwang's soul.

"But when I see you again-and I _will_- rest assured. Your life will be mine."

With that, the Prince of Thunder, the Blind Bandit and the Avatar himself shot off into the sky.

_**Done! Once again, check my profile for the reason as to why I haven't updated. See you soon!**_

_**[EDIT]  
>I took the liberty off beefing up the contents of this chapter a bit. Enjoy!<strong>_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Oh, look, another chapter. About time you lazy bum!**_

The air was surprisingly crisp and cool despite the exhaust fumes from the hundreds of war balloons that filled the sky. The two benders plus Erzi were flying on a gust of wind that flowed like a carpet beneath their feet, with Aang at the front guiding the wind and Toph sitting stoically behind him, war hammer strapped to her back. Behind her, Erzi sat and stared in both awe and hatred at the war balloons and arriving airships that filled the sky. As the trio sped through the sky, Erzi shivered as the cold penetrated the light fabric of his tunic. Seeing his discomfort, Aang created a small field of heat around Erzi, warming him up. Erzi nodded in thanks but the gesture went unnoticed as Aang's attention was once again turned to the rapidly approaching war balloon.

"It's a medical vessel." Aang yelled as they neared.

The war balloon certainly was less menacing that the others in the fleet as it lacked the trademark spikes and deep red color. It was also much larger, with a hull that could equal that of an airship but was much wider and less sleek. If a Fire Nation airship could be compared to a knife in the sky, the medical vessel resembled a flying banana more than anything else.

As the trio neared the hull of the vessel, Aang slowed the gust of wind carrying them until they were just hovering next to the ship's hull. Without a word, Toph immediately thrust her hands into the metallic hull and bent the steel apart like paper, allowing Aang and an amazed Erzi to step in.

"How did you...?" He asked as he stepped through a hole that was once steel.

"Metalbending." Toph said with pride as she too stepped into the ship and just as easily closed the hole.

"Invented it myself."

As soon as they were in the ship, the trio began to step lightly through the halls, their footsteps barely touching the metal floors as they went. Toph, knowing the basic layout of Fire Nation air vessels from experience, led the way.

"Alright, if we keep heading forward, we should reach the bridge of the ship." She whispered as they snuck through the halls.

"What kind of balloon has a bridge built into it? You'd think being this far up, people would cover everything." Erzi intoned from the rear raising snickers from Aang as he realized that the Prince had never seen anything like this in his entire life.

"No, Erzi." Toph scolded, barely containing her own laughter. "The bridge is a special room where all the controls and important ship flying stuff is."

"So why are we going there? I thought we were going to take this-whatever it is-and fly to the Fire Nation? Why are we headed to the bridge?" Erzi asked, his mind a blank. Aang was now nearly doubled over in silent laughter and Toph facepalmed at Erzi's inexperience.

"No, Erzi." She said as her hand slowly descended from her forehead down her face. "If we take over that room, then we can fly this thing back to the Fire Nation." There was a long pause which was suddenly broken by Erzi's long _ooooooooohhh _of realisation and the group once again went quiet. Finally as they neared a door with a Fire Nation insignia stamped on it, Toph and Aang dropped into their respective stances, Aang choosing an Airbending stance from his massive repertoire of skill while Erzi simply stood with his fists up.

"Uh, Erzi? Maybe you should sit this one out." Aang suggested as he remembered Erzi current handicap. Erzi wasn't as resentful to the statement as Aang had feared but still shot him a bitter look as he shouldered past him and stood next to Toph at the head of their little group.

"Those kicks you learned aren't just for show, Aang. Rest assured they'll do damage." He said with just a hint of anger in his voice. Nodding to Toph, Erzi dropped back into his stance and braced for the fight to come. Toph, sensing his nod through the vibrations coming from him and choosing not to berate him for forgetting her blindness, thrust her hands into the metal surface of the door and tore it from the wall. Immediately, the metal warped itself into an impromptu armour that encased Toph's body. Charging into the room, she drew her hammer and immediately struck down two soldiers by the entrance. As they got back up and prepared to call fire to their hands, they were hurled backwards by a strong gust of air from Aang, who entered the room slower and more cautiously than Toph had but moving quickly and gracefully. Finally Erzi leapt into the room and easily knocked down a soldier who had tried to sneak up on Toph with a quick sweep of his leg. Suddenly, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a sword being drawn from behind him and quickly lunged for the fallen soldier's weapon. Hands grasping the familiar metallic pole of a spear, Erzi spun around to meet his opponent. He immediately came face to face with a man who appeared to be in his forties with his hair neatly done up in a topknot and whose face sported an equally neat goatee. The man also wielded an impressive sword which looked like it had been sharpened daily and was held with a hand that practised as frequent.

"So you're the Avatar's new teacher I see?" He said, his voice deep and commanding.

"And you're no ordinary soldier." Erzi growled, unfazed. "The way you hold your sword and the stance you employ tells me that you've got some skill with that blade." Erzi twirled the spear expertly, tossing it into the air and catching it with one hand, the point facing his opponent who raised an eyebrow at the display.

"It seems you too have some skill with a blade, young man." He said, grinning.

"To the death then?" Erzi asked, ignoring his compliment.

"To the death."

There was a loud clang that filled the small bridge as the tip of Erzi spear met his opponent's sword sending a plume of sparks into the air. Recoiling from the impact, Erzi wasted no time and immediately stabbed at his opponent with his spear. The swordsman deflected the attack with ease and stepped forward, breaking Erzi's stance. But it was a move Erzi had seen many times in training and he leapt back, widening his stance. The man grinned, seemingly impressed at Erzi's counter, and slashed downwards, aiming at Erzi's chest. He leaned backwards, evading the blow, but the sword still managed to slice his tunic open. Erzi gasped and clutched his chest but upon feeling no injury, he resumed the fight.

The two soon fell into a routine which was beautiful as it was brutal. The swordsman would attempt graceful slashes and elegant lunges which were swept aside with barbaric swings from Erzi's spear which were ugly but held the strength of typhoons. However, the stress and pain from the day's battle had worn Erzi down to a fraction of his strength and the swordsman soon found a flaw in Erzi's defence.

Quite simply, he was getting tired.

Erzi's stance was becoming more and more loose and the spear suddenly felt very heavy in his hand. The swordsman saw all these flaws and slashed at him. As expected, Erzi swung his spear to intercept the blow but the blow was slow and heavy due to his fatigue and his spear was easily knocked out of his hands and landed on the other side of the bridge with a clang. With his spear out of his hand and his defence broken, Erzi was easily knocked down with a swift kick from the swordsman. As he lay on the ground panting in exhaustion, the swordsman stood above him with a grin.

"Do your worst." Erzi growled.

"You truly were a worthy opponent." The swordsman said, chuckling. He raised his sword, about to strike, then abruptly halted and sheathed it.

"Alas, you have much to learn." He offered Erzi his hand, which he took and hauled himself to his feet. The man now smiled at him, regarding him as a friend instead of an opponent. Behind him, Aang and Toph stood in arms with the "soldiers" of the Fire Nation who had removed their helmets to reveal people of various ages, the youngest being a short boy who looked to be about 9 and wore an oversized helmet that drooped comically across his face. Beside him stood a taller boy with a blue bandanna wrapped around his head which was partially concealed by a mop of shaggy hair. To his side, was a stoic faced man, who appeared to be the tallest of the group, and had a strange mask like tattoo drawn across his eyes.

"Hey there, Stumpy." Toph grinned from her position next to Aang. "Piandoa wasn't too rough on you was he?"

"Who...?" Erzi began but was silenced by a hand on his shoulder.

"Prince Erzi." It was the swordsman and Erzi tuned to address him. "I am master Piandoa of the order of the White Lotus. It is my honour to welcome you to the Resistance."

"…_**you should add some new or old villains, (like Jet or Blue spirit) may the Greek gods be with you, peace…" – Heatlessdemonwolf on Chapter 7**_

_**Hope I did okay with this one, buddy :) I felt that this was the appropriate time to reintroduce some of the old characters into the story since it has been very OC centric so far. Expect to see more in the future!**_

_**Oh and one more thing, my school year starts very soon and I will be slowed down considerably. I can't promise frequent updates but I can promise that this story WILL go on and I WILL finish it.**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**EXCELSIOR!**_


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